Anyone knows if this is still THE recipe? I wonder if he will make any changes now in Radioshack
Allen Lim’s Rice Cakes “Francois” Recipe:
(makes one 9×9 pan)
2-3 fresh eggs
1 (dry) cup sushi rice (Cal-Rose is Lim’s preferred brand)
Three slices bacon, Canadian bacon or pancetta
Grated parmesan cheese to taste
2 tbs soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (less ore more to taste)
- Salt to taste, if desired
Scramble and cook eggs in frypan, breaking them up thoroughly into small pieces. Set aside. Steam or cook rice according to directions (use a classic “sticky” rice, not instant, or the rice cakes won’t hold together). Fry bacon or pancetta in frypan over medium heat until done (thin-sliced pancetta crisps up very quickly, so watch it carefully) - if using bacon, blot thoroughly on paper towels.
Crumble pancetta or bacon into small pieces and fold into rice along with eggs. Add soy or aminos and parmesan to taste. Transfer to a shallow baking pan (9×9) and, using a spatula, firmly press down on mixture. Let cool, cut into bars sized to slip into a jersey pocket and wrap in foil. Refrigerate. Start with smaller batches like this until you know how many cakes you can eat in a few days of riding. These ain’t mylar-sealed energy bars. They go bad in under a week (and also start to dry out a bit).
OPTIONAL: preheat broiler and put pan on middle rack for a few minutes. Watch carefully to prevent over-browning. This puts a nice crust on them and helps them hold together a bit better.
VARIATIONS: Try omitting the bacon and cheese and creating a “sweet” rice cake using honey or fruit jam instead of soy sauce. Experiment, have fun.
FOIL-WRAPPING TIP: For easy access on the bike, wrap each cake individually. Rip off an appropriately sized piece of aluminum foil and center the rice cake along its long axis. Wrap one long edge of foil over top of cake. Fold the edge back to just past the middle. Repeat with other side to create a slightly overlapping, double-thickness “seam” of foil, and then fold short edges of foil underneath the cake opposite the seam. The (recycleable) wrapper completely covers the cake but can simply be popped open on a ride. (The Slipstream video shows this process clearly at the end.)
I am always looking for the best food to take while riding. I am pretty sure that this should be a good one to try and I am wondering if anyone has used it before.
AFAIK, that’s the recipe. I’ve used it, too and tweak the recipe as I feel. My riding buddies love when I bring a sack of them to share.
Words of advice (experience):
gotta use sushi rice
don’t add olive oil when you mix everything together - it won’t stick
don’t use normal heavy duty foil- use the paper sheet version. Much thinner is manageable to unwrap on the bike. Also won’t stab you through your jersey!
bacon = YUM
savory versions were more a hit with my crew, given the amount of sweet sugary drinks/bars/gels we otherwise consume.
I saw this recipe a while back and have used it for over a year. They are very good and really hit the spot. I agree with the previous poster, the savory version is far better than the sweet. I add a little green onion or chive in mine.
The key is to put a little olive oil, along with more salt and Parmesan cheese into the bottom of your pan before you pour the rice/egg mixture in. After you press it down, the oil on the bottom will allow it to release after the rice mixture sets up.
Be warned though… Lim’s since pointed out that they need to be refridgerated prior to eating, rather than stuck in pockets fermenting bacteria.
Only I would not keep them in the fridge for more than a day. The rice dries up and it gets hard and crumbly.
On the other hand, you can take those that are still in the fridge, dump them into a pan and make fried rice!
To be clear, he was specifically warning against taking them on long rides, particularly when hot, as a few people got sick after doing so… it was a story in Cycling Weekly as I recall.
My family likes them with cubed ham and scrambled eggs. As others have noted, gotta use the sushi rice, otherwise it won’t be sticky enough to hold together.
as far as consistency, in my hands it is much more crumbly than a clif bar. Don’t try to stick pieces on your top tube unless you want chipmunks to be able to follow the path of your ride.
I find them tasty but no more digestible than other solid bars, so I don’t like them for rides with any intensity where I would ordinarily stick with liquids over solid food.
All in all, good stuff.
Is this essentially the recipe for a savory energy bar? Does it hold together with the consistency of a cliff bar?
Thanks,
Ken
It holds well so long as you use enough water and don’t let it dry out too much. Once, I used a tad more water and just smooshed the rice down more. Formed a pretty dense bar. I find you can sometimes melt a clif bar in your mouth. With these, you definitely need to chew. I only use these for my longer, easier rides where I can eat real food. Tempo/spirited rides, I stick to gels and liquids.
I was going to create a new post, but figure I’d bump this one.
For those that do this, I’ve got a couple of questions. For my training rides, I make these Friday night, have them for my ride Saturday. So, cook and prepare at 9PM, eat them at about 2PM.
For my race, I will have to make around 1PM Friday afternoon then in the fridge/cooler as I drive to the race, put them in the fridge when I check in, and have them on my bike at 6AM the next morning, sitting outside until I get on the bike at 8:30-9AM, and eat them at around 11AM and 3PM.
I put that on there to ask if it’s feasable, or not. If they will remain good (ie, will they/the egg spoil) and will it maintain its stickiness or not?
