Why it works: Milk and rice 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 Flour Pancakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick and pale.
Mix the beaten yolks with the whole milk and salt.
Gradually add rice flour until you achieve a batter consistency.
Finish and cook
In another bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the batter.
Bake immediately on a hot griddle or frying pan.
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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Milk + ricetop 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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Yolks add richness and emulsify the batter; whipped whites add lift and a light texture.
- Whole milk
- Provides the liquid that hydrates the flour and gives the batter moisture and tenderness.
- Rice flour
- Forms the body of the batter, setting into the pancake structure as it cooks.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites gently. Whipped egg whites hold air that makes the pancakes light. Stirring vigorously knocks that air out, so the pancakes come out dense and flat.
“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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