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Dessert

Raised Rice Muffins

A baked muffin made with boiled rice, oatmeal, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Rice and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Raised Rice Muffins

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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.

Make the batter

  1. Substitute hot boiled rice for hominy in the raised hominy muffins recipe.

  2. In a separate bowl, combine scalded milk, sugar, and salt.

  3. When lukewarm, add the dissolved yeast.

  4. Work the oatmeal into the flour with your fingertips, then add to the milk mixture.

  5. Add the beaten egg whites to the mixture.

  6. Beat thoroughly, cover, and let rise overnight.

Bake

  1. In the morning, fill buttered gem pans two-thirds full.

  2. Let rise on the back of the range until the mixture fills the pans.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 25 to 30 minutes.

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.

  1. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Egg whites
Beaten until stiff, they add airy lift and help the muffins rise and set light.
Yeast
Ferments the batter so it rises slowly overnight and gives the muffins an open, airy crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the risen batter together as it bakes.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness, and its scalding helps tenderise the dough.
Cooked oatmeal
Adds moisture and body, softening the crumb and giving a tender texture.

The step that matters

Letting the batter rise overnight. Yeast needs time to ferment and build gas bubbles; rising too briefly leaves dense muffins, while the batter must be fully risen before baking so the structure sets light.

“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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