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 Cheesecakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Whisk the eggs well and add all the other ingredients.
Line some patty tins with pastry.
Fill the tins with the mixture.
Bake
Bake for about 15 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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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Butter + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set as they heat, giving the filling its structure.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during baking.
- Ground rice
- Provides body and bulk, giving the filling a firm, sliceable texture.
The step that matters
Bake for about 15 minutes. Egg proteins set as they heat, so the filling firms up in the oven. Underbaking leaves it wet and loose, while overbaking can make it dry and tough.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, rice):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, rice. 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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