Why it works: Rice and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Rice Griddle Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Sift together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
Add rice, free from lumps, diluted with beaten egg and enough milk to make a smooth batter.
Cook and serve
Heat the griddle well.
Pour batter onto the griddle and bake until nice and brown, not too thick.
Serve with maple syrup.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
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.
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Cooked rice
- Gives the pancakes body and a slightly chewy, tender texture.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the batter once it sets on the griddle.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, helping the pancakes rise and become light.
The step that matters
Heat the griddle well. A properly hot griddle sets the outside of the batter quickly, so the pancakes brown evenly instead of spreading, sticking, or turning pale and dense.
“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.
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