Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Rice Cake, Glazed
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.
Prepare
Prepare the rice as directed in No. 1324 and let it cool in a pan.
Add 4 whole eggs, 4 egg yolks, and 6 ounces of stoned raisins, currants, or citron to the cooled rice.
Mix thoroughly and flavor with lemon or vanilla.
Bake
Butter a square pan, line the bottom with buttered paper, and dust with flour.
Spread the rice mixture in the pan to a thickness of 1 inch.
Place the pan in a larger pan filled with water, ensuring no water touches the rice.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until cooked through.
Glaze and serve
Let the rice cake cool, then turn it out onto a board, removing the paper.
Glaze the cake with rum or maraschino and return it to the oven to dry.
Cut into desired shapes and serve with lemon or rum sauce.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together565 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + rumtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,007 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter and flour 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
- Eggs
- Bind the rice mixture and set into a firm, sliceable cake when baked.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and moisture, giving the cake a tender, custard-like crumb.
- Raisins, currants, or citron
- Add pockets of sweetness and chewy texture throughout the cake.
- Rice
- Forms the body of the cake, providing its main structure and bulk.
The step that matters
Baking in a water bath. Setting the pan in water keeps the heat gentle so the eggs cook through evenly without drying out or browning the surface too quickly. Keeping water off the rice prevents it from becoming soggy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, egg, raisin, butter, flour, rum):
- Coconutfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, egg, raisin, butter, flour, rum. 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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