Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Imperial Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rice
Wash the rice and place it in a pot with cold water.
When it begins to boil, pour off the water and add the milk; cook until the rice is soft.
Make the gelatine and custard base
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 30 minutes, then dissolve it in hot milk.
Strain the gelatine into the rice mixture; add the powdered sugar and salt.
Stir the mixture on ice until it begins to thicken.
Chill and serve
Add the vanilla and whipped cream, then mix gently.
Pour the mixture into a wet mold and pack it in ice (without salt) for 3 hours.
Serve with vanilla sauce or fresh fruit sauce.
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Rice + vanillatop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,352 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Rice
- Softens as it cooks in milk, becoming the creamy body of the pudding.
- Milk
- Cooks with the rice to give a soft, creamy texture and sweet dairy flavour.
- Gelatine
- Sets the chilled pudding so it holds its shape when unmoulded.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves easily into the cooled mixture.
- Heavy cream
- Whipped into the mixture to add richness and a light, airy texture.
The step that matters
Stir the mixture on ice until it begins to thicken. Gelatine sets as it cools, so the mixture must be stirred while cooling to stay smooth. If it sets in lumps or unevenly, the texture will be grainy. Stop once it thickens, before it sets solid, so the cream can still be folded in evenly.
“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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