Name: Another Way to Iviake Rice Cakes
Ingredients: 9 large eggs, yolks only; ½ pound sifted loaf sugar; ½ pound sifted rice flour; ½ pound fresh butter, melted; a few pounded bitter almonds

Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Another Way to Iviake Rice Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

9 large eggs, yolks only
½ pound sifted loaf sugar
½ pound sifted rice flour
½ pound fresh butter, melted
a few pounded bitter almonds

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

Beat the yolks of the eggs until extremely light.
Add the sifted sugar and rice flour to the eggs.
Mix in the melted butter and pounded bitter almonds.

Bake

Butter small tins and fill them half full with the mixture.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven 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.

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.

Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,673 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rice + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,456 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,245 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

Eggs: Yolks provide structure and richness, and whipping them light traps air for a tender crumb.
Sifted loaf sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown in the oven.
Rice flour: Forms the body of the cakes, giving a light, delicate texture without much gluten.
Fresh butter: Adds fat for moisture and a rich flavour, and helps the cakes brown.
Bitter almonds: Contribute a distinctive aroma and a slightly bitter, nutty flavour.

The step that matters

Beat the yolks until extremely light. Beating the yolks well incorporates air that gives the cakes lift and a tender crumb. Under-beaten yolks produce dense cakes, so the mixture should look pale and thick before the other ingredients are added.

“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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Another Way to Iviake Rice Cakes