Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Rice Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Boil the rice until it swells, then drain it completely.
In a bowl, mix the drained rice with the beaten eggs, currants, lemon peel, nutmeg, and sugar.
Stir in enough flour to thicken the mixture.
Fry
Heat lard in a pan and fry spoonfuls of the mixture 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + nutmegtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Forms the bulk of the fritter and gives it a soft, tender body once boiled.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture together and help set the fritters as they cook.
- Currants
- Add pockets of sweetness and chewy texture throughout the fritters.
- Flour
- Thickens the batter so the spoonfuls hold their shape in the hot fat.
- Lard
- Conducts heat for frying and browns the outside of the fritters.
The step that matters
Drain the rice completely before mixing. Excess water in the cooked rice dilutes the batter and makes the fritters soggy and slow to set. Thorough draining lets the flour and eggs thicken the mixture properly so it holds its shape in the hot fat.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, egg, lemon, nutmeg, sugar, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Limefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, egg, lemon, nutmeg, sugar, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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