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 Gem Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the soft boiled rice, flour, butter, salt, and beaten eggs.
Add milk gradually until the mixture reaches a batter consistency.
Cook
Preheat a griddle or gem pans and grease them well.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake 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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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).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Soft boiled rice
- Adds body and a tender, slightly chewy texture to the cakes.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides structure so the cakes hold together after cooking.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help set the cakes as they cook.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richer flavor and a softer crumb.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the mixture to a pourable batter.
The step that matters
Add milk gradually until the batter reaches the right consistency. Too much liquid thins the batter so the cakes spread and lose shape, while too little leaves them dense and dry. Adding milk a little at a time lets you stop at the right point.
“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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