Why it works: Rice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,137 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Rice Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Boil the rice, sugar, cinnamon, and gelatine in the water for one hour.
Strain the mixture into a mold.
Serve
Serve cold.
If it is very hot weather, place on ice.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Rice
- Breaks down while boiling, releasing starch that thickens the liquid and gives it body.
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm aroma to the liquid as it simmers.
The step that matters
Chilling in hot weather. Gelatine sets firm when cold but softens as it warms, so in hot conditions the jelly may not hold its shape. Placing it on ice helps it firm up.
“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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