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 ↓
Rice Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Mix the ground rice, flour, and pounded sugar together.
Sift in the egg yolks and egg whites, along with the finely shredded lemon peel.
Whisk the mixture in a tin stewpan over low heat until well combined.
Bake
Transfer the mixture to the oven and bake at 300°F (150°C) for 40 minutes.
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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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Ground rice
- Provides the main body and a tender, slightly crumbly structure.
- Flour
- Adds structure that helps the cake hold its shape after baking.
- Pounded sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the crumb a fine, tender texture.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and fat, and help bind the batter together.
- Egg whites
- Trap air and help the cake rise and stay light.
- Lemon peel
- Adds a fragrant citrus aroma that brightens the flavour.
The step that matters
Whisking over low heat. Eggs thicken and can scramble when overheated, so low heat and constant whisking keep the mixture smooth and evenly combined.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, flour, sugar, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, flour, sugar, egg. 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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