Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Rice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Wash the rice thoroughly and boil it in the water with the salt until holes appear on the surface.
Add the butter cut into bits, 6 ounces of sugar, and the grated rind of the lemon.
Beat the yolks of the eggs thoroughly, stir them into the milk, and gradually pour it over the rice, mixing gently.
Bake the mixture until set, then let it cool.
Top and brown
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth, gradually add the remaining sugar, and flavor with the lemon juice.
Spread the meringue over the pudding and brown it delicately in the oven.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and help set the custard; whites whip into the meringue topping.
- Rice
- Starch that swells and softens during boiling, giving the pudding its body.
- Milk
- Liquid that cooks with the egg yolks and rice to form a soft, creamy custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, in the meringue, helps the whites stay stable and glossy.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth. Whites must be whipped until stiff and the sugar added gradually so the meringue holds its shape and browns evenly. Under-beaten or greasy whites will collapse or weep.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, rice, butter, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, rice, butter, milk, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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