Why it works: Rice and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Rice Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil the rice and let it cool.
Mix the sweet milk, egg yolks, and enough flour to create a stiff batter.
Beat the egg whites until frothy.
Stir in the baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.
Add the beaten egg whites to the mixture.
Cook and serve
Bake on a hot griddle.
Serve hot with butter and preserves or jelly.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Egg whites
- Beaten to a froth, they trap air that lifts the batter as it cooks.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the cream of tartar to release gas, helping the cakes rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so it reacts with the baking soda to produce lift.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the stiff batter together while it cooks.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the batter.
The step that matters
Adding the beaten egg whites. Fold the whites in gently so the air bubbles stay intact. Stirring vigorously deflates the foam, which reduces the lift the cakes get from the whites and leaves them denser.
“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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