Why it works: Rice and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,366 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Savoy Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Grease your cake mold with clarified butter using a stiff brush.
Dust the greased mold with fine sifted sugar, shaking out the excess.
In a large bowl, break 12 eggs and weigh out 9 eggs' worth of sifted sugar.
Add the zest of 3 lemons to the sugar.
Whip the 12 eggs over a slow fire for about 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and mix in the sugar and lemon peel, whipping until cold (about 15 minutes).
Gently fold in the flour until well combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared mold, filling it three-quarters full.
Bake in the preheated oven until a knife or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
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.
-
Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, egg, sugar, rice):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, egg, sugar, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
Lemon Rice Pudding19 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Rice Cake120 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.