Name: Corn and Rice Cakes
Ingredients: 1 cup cooked rice; 1 tablespoon molasses; ½ cup hot milk; ¼ cup cornmeal; 2 tablespoons shortening; ½ teaspoon salt; 1 egg, well beaten; 1 cup rye flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder

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 ↓

Corn and Rice Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

Pour hot milk over the cooked rice.
Add cornmeal, salt, shortening, molasses, beaten egg, rye flour, and baking powder, then mix well until combined.

Bake

Pour the mixture into a greased pan, about 1 inch thick.
Bake until golden brown.

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.

Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,374 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,320 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rice + ryetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together54 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Milk + ryetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together918 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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

Cooked rice: Adds body and a tender, moist crumb to the cakes.
Rye flour: Provides the main structure and a distinctive earthy flavor.
Egg: Binds the batter and helps hold the cakes together.
Baking powder: Releases gas to lift the batter so the cakes rise and lighten.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, depth of flavor, and helps the crust brown.
Shortening: Adds fat for tenderness and a softer texture.

“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.