Name: Rice-cake, with Peaches
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked rice; 1 cup milk; 2 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons sugar; 1-2 eggs; ½ cup bread crumbs; 2 cups peaches, sliced; 1 cup custard sauce, flavored with wine or preferred flavor

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Rice-cake, with Peaches

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

In a steamer, cook the rice with milk until hot.
Stir in butter, sugar, and eggs until well combined.
Butter a pudding mold and sprinkle the bottom with bread crumbs.

Assemble and bake

Layer half an inch of rice, followed by a layer of peaches, and repeat until the mold is full.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 15-20 minutes.

Serve

Turn the cake out of the mold and pour custard sauce over the bottom.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,374 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + peachtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together781 recipes

Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cooked rice: Forms the bulk of the cake and sets as it cools, giving it a firm, sliceable body.
Eggs: Bind the rice and milk mixture so the cake holds its shape when turned out.
Milk: Softens the rice and adds moisture and richness to the cake.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender texture in the cake.
Peaches: Add moisture and fruity sweetness, layered through the rice.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown lightly in the oven.

The step that matters

Turn the cake out of the mold. Eggs set as the cake bakes, but it needs to cool briefly before unmolding so the layers hold together rather than slump or break.

Swap the peach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, butter, sugar, egg, bread, sauce):

Vanillafits better
Coconutfits better
Figfits about as well
Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, butter, sugar, egg, bread, sauce. 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.

Brown Bread461 recipes

Rice Fritters84 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

Bread Omelette60 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Rice-cake, with Peaches