Name: Rice Cake
Ingredients: 2 lbs ground rice; ½ lb flour; 1 lb butter; ½ cup preserved ginger, diced; 1 lb sugar; ¼ teaspoon ground ginger; 10 eggs

Why it works: Rice and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,196 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Rice Cake

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.

Mix and pan

Mix the ground rice, flour, butter, preserved ginger, sugar, ground ginger, and eggs like a pound cake.
Butter and line a square baking sheet with parchment paper.
Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared baking sheet.

Bake

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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.

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.

Rice + gingertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,196 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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: Forms the main body of the cake, giving it a dense, sturdy crumb.
Eggs: Bind the batter and set during baking to give structure.
Flour: Adds structure that holds the cake together with the rice.
Butter: Adds fat that softens the crumb and gives a rich texture.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the surface turn golden as it bakes.