Name: Lemon Amandine
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons butter or margarine; 3 tablespoons flour; 1/2 cup sugar; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 4 eggs, separated; 1 cup cooked rice; 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel; 1 12-ounce can evaporated milk; 1/3 cup lemon juice; 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar; 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted; Lemon sauce (optional)

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar + evaporated milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together804 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,366 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Whites whipped to stiff peaks give the dessert its light, airy structure, while yolks enrich it.
Evaporated milk: Adds moisture and richness, giving the custard-like body a creamy texture.
Butter: Adds fat that tenderizes the batter and carries flavor.
Flour: Thickens the mixture and helps it set into a stable, sliceable body.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and flavor of the dish.
Sugar: Sweetens the dish and helps the beaten mixture hold its structure.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites beaten until stiff but not dry trap air that gives lift. Overbeaten whites turn grainy and collapse, while deflating them by stirring vigorously loses the airy texture the dessert depends on.

Swap the lemon

The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, egg, rice, evaporated milk, cream):

Vanillafits better
Coconutfits better
Raisinfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, egg, rice, evaporated milk, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0

Lemon Amandine

Lemon Amandine

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Bake and serve

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)