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 Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Beat the yolks of the eggs and mix with powdered sugar.
Gradually add ground rice and dried flour, beating continuously.
Incorporate the beaten egg whites, shredded lemon peel, and lemon juice.
Beat the mixture for an additional 15 minutes.
Bake
Bake in a brisk oven (400°F / 200°C).
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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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).
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Egg + flourtop 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).
Egg and flour 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
- Eggs
- Yolks bind the batter and the whites, beaten and folded in, lighten it for a tender crumb.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the batter and dissolves smoothly into the yolks for a fine texture.
- Ground rice
- Provides the main structure and a light, slightly crumbly texture in the baked cake.
- Dried flour
- Adds structure and helps set the batter so the cakes hold their shape.
- Lemon peel
- Adds aromatic oils that give a bright lemon fragrance to the batter.
The step that matters
Incorporate the beaten egg whites. Beaten whites trap air that leavens the batter. Folding gently rather than stirring hard keeps that air in, so the cakes bake up light instead of dense.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, rice, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, rice, 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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