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 Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°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 your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine the cooked rice, beaten eggs, melted lard or butter, and cornmeal.
Add enough milk to create a very thin batter.
Stir in the baking powder or baking soda if using sour milk.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for about 30-40 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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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cooked rice
- Adds body and moisture, giving the bread a softer, more tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and set during baking, giving structure to the bread.
- Cornmeal
- Provides the main body and grainy texture of the bread.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the bread rise and turn light.
- Lard or butter
- Adds fat for richness and helps the crust brown.
The step that matters
Get the batter thin but not watery. Cornmeal absorbs liquid as it rests and bakes, so the milk must be added gradually until the batter is a very thin pourable consistency. Too little milk leaves a dense, dry loaf, while too much produces a flat, gummy result that does not set properly.
“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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