Name: Rice or Hominy Griddle Cakes
Ingredients: 1 cup hot boiled rice; 1 cup sweet milk; ½ teaspoon salt; 2 eggs, yolks beaten; 2 tablespoons melted butter; ¾ cup cornmeal; ½ cup pastry flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 2 egg whites, beaten stiff

Why it works: Milk and butter 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 or Hominy Griddle Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Mix together the rice, sweet milk, and salt.
Add the beaten yolks of the eggs and melted butter.
Stir in the cornmeal and sifted pastry flour mixed with baking powder.
Finally, fold in the beaten egg whites.

Cook

Fry on a hot buttered griddle until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,374 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 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: Yolks enrich the batter, and whipped whites lighten it for a tender, airy texture.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter, helping the griddle cakes rise and become light.
Cornmeal: Gives the cakes a coarser, slightly crisp texture and a mild corn flavor.
Pastry flour: Provides gentle structure while keeping the cakes tender rather than tough.
Butter: Adds richness and flavor, and browns on the griddle for a golden surface.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites. Whites hold air only when beaten stiff; folding gently keeps that air in the batter so the cakes stay light instead of deflating.

“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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Rice or Hominy Griddle Cakes