Name: Rice Griddle-cakes
Ingredients: 1 egg; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 2-3 cups cooked rice; 2 teaspoons cream of tartar; 1-3 cup all-purpose flour; 3 teaspoons baking powder; Sweet milk (enough to make a thin batter for frying)

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 Griddle-cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a bowl, beat the egg.
Add baking soda, cooked rice, cream of tartar, flour, and baking powder.
Mix well and add sweet milk until the batter is thin enough to fry.

Cook

Heat a griddle and pour batter to form cakes.
Cook until golden brown on both sides.

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.

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.

Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,374 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,611 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Flour and milk 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: Binds the batter and adds structure to the cakes as they cook.
Cooked rice: Provides the bulk and tender texture of the cakes.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in the cream of tartar to produce gas that lightens the cakes.
Cream of tartar: Acts as an acid that reacts with the baking soda to help the cakes rise.
All-purpose flour: Gives the batter body and helps set the cakes' structure.
Baking powder: Adds additional leavening so the cakes rise and stay light.

“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.