Skip to main content
Main

Rice Cakes

Rice cakes are fried cakes made from soft boiled rice, milk, eggs, flour, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Rice and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Rice Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine the soft boiled rice, milk, egg yolks, flour, and salt in a bowl.

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the rice mixture.

Cook

  1. Heat a buttered griddle over medium heat.

  2. Spoon the mixture onto the griddle and fry until golden brown on both sides.

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.

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.

  1. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Soft boiled rice
Provides the bulk and body of the cakes, with starch that helps hold them together.
Egg whites
Beaten to stiff peaks, they trap air that lightens the cakes and helps them rise.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the batter while adding moisture and flavor.
Flour
Adds structure that helps the cakes hold their shape while frying.
Milk
Adds moisture and loosens the batter, and its sugars help the surface brown.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Stiff egg whites hold air that gives the cakes lightness. Stirring them in vigorously deflates the foam, leaving dense cakes, so fold gently until just combined.

“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.

More rice cakes recipes

Boston 3Fried 3 See all 144 →

You might also like

Rice FrittersRice Fritters84 recipesSteamed RiceSteamed Rice48 recipesRice Griddle CakesRice Griddle Cakes28 recipesRice and Cheese CasseroleRice and Cheese Casserole23 recipes