Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Rice Pancakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Boil the rice in a small quantity of water until it becomes jelly-like.
Let the rice cool, then mix it with the cream, eggs, salt, and nutmeg.
Stir in the warmed butter and enough flour to make a thick batter.
Fry
Fry the pancakes in a small amount of lard or dripping.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + nutmegtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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
- Rice
- Cooked to a jelly-like state, it thickens the batter and gives the pancakes a soft body.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and set during frying, giving the pancakes structure.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, softening the texture of the pancakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat and flavour, making the pancakes tender and rich.
- Flour
- Thickens the batter so it holds its shape when fried.
The step that matters
Cooking the rice until jelly-like. Rice must be cooked long enough in a small amount of water to break down into a smooth, thick paste. Undercooked grains leave a gritty texture, and too much water makes the batter thin.
“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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