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 Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Boil 1 cup of rice until dry and soft.
Mix the cooked rice with 2 cups of flour.
Beat 2 eggs until light and add to the rice mixture.
Add ¼ teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons of lard.
Thin the batter with 1 cup of sweet milk until it resembles muffin batter.
Bake
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until done, being careful not to overbake.
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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Cooked rice
- Provides the bulk and a moist, tender crumb in the finished bread.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the batter together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help set the crumb as it bakes.
- Lard
- Adds fat for tenderness and a softer texture.
- Sweet milk
- Moistens the flour and rice so the batter reaches a pourable, muffin-like consistency.
The step that matters
Baking until done without overbaking. Overbaking dries out the starch and protein structure, making the crumb dense and crumbly. Baking only until set keeps the bread moist and tender.
“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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