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 Buns
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Beat the eggs and add them to the mixture gradually, while continuing to beat.
Add the ground rice and sour milk, mixing well.
Carefully add the lemon essence or grated lemon rind.
Incorporate the baking powder last and mix well again.
Bake
Half fill greased patty pans with the mixture.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 30 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.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ground rice
- Provides the bulk of the structure, giving the buns a soft, crumbly texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and moisture as they set in the oven.
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity that works with the baking powder to help the buns rise.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven, helping the buns rise and become light.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the buns and helps tenderise the crumb while the butter is creamed.
The step that matters
Incorporate the baking powder last and mix well again. Baking powder starts releasing gas once it meets liquid, so it should be folded in at the end and the batter baked promptly. Mixing too long after adding it knocks out gas and leaves the buns denser.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, sugar, butter, 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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