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 Griddle Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the egg until light.
Add the sweet milk and cooked rice, stirring to combine.
Gradually sift in enough flour to make a batter.
Blend the sugar, baking powder, and salt together.
Add the blended mixture to the batter and beat for one minute.
Cook
Bake on a lightly greased griddle.
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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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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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).
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
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the pancakes together.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the wet batter, making the pancakes rise and become light.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown on the griddle.
- Sweet milk
- Hydrates the flour and gives the batter its pourable, moist texture.
The step that matters
Beat for one minute after adding the blended mixture. Once baking powder meets liquid it starts releasing gas, so the batter should be mixed promptly and briefly to combine it evenly, then cooked before the lift fades.
“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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