Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Rice Gems
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, combine the flour and cream of tartar.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little warm water and add it to the mixture.
In another bowl, mix the cooked rice, butter, salt, beaten egg, and sweet milk.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until well mixed.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into gem pans.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten structure that holds the cakes together.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the cream of tartar to produce gas that helps the cakes rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so it reacts with the baking soda for lift.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness, and helps the crust brown.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour, contributing to a soft crumb.
The step that matters
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until well mixed. Once the baking soda and cream of tartar meet liquid, they start producing gas. Mixing just until combined and getting the batter into the hot oven quickly keeps that lift from being lost, while overmixing develops gluten and toughens the cakes.
“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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