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 ↓
Moulded Bice, or Sago, and Apple Juice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rice
Rinse the rice to remove discolored grains and wipe it with a soft cloth.
Combine the rice with 1 quart of cold apple juice in a pot over low heat.
Stir often until it begins to boil to prevent lumps.
Cook until the rice is tender, then add 6 ounces of sugar and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
Stir constantly until the mixture is thick and dry.
Mold and set
Press the mixture into a water-dampened mold and refrigerate for 12 hours.
Make the sago sauce
Wash and drain 8 ounces of sago.
Combine the sago with 1½ pints of apple juice.
Add 4 ounces of sugar, lemon juice, and grated rind, and boil for 15-20 minutes.
Serve
Serve plain or with a syrup made from apple juice and lemon, or topped with almond spikes and custard.
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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Rice + appletop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,311 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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
- Carolina rice
- Cooks down into a thick, tender mass that holds the molded shape.
- Apple juice
- Provides the cooking liquid, adding moisture and fruity flavor to the rice.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the mixture thicken as it dries out.
- Sago
- Thickens the sauce as its starch swells and turns translucent when boiled.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the apple and sugar.
The step that matters
Stir constantly until the mixture is thick and dry. Rice starch can scorch on the bottom of the pot and clump if left unstirred. Constant stirring keeps it even and lets it dry enough to hold its shape when molded.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, sugar, lemon):
- Orangefits better
- Limefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, sugar, lemon. 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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