Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Rice Panada
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick over, wash, and drain the rice.
Cook the rice
Put the rice in a pot of boiling water, enough to cover it, and add the suet, salt, and sugar.
Cover and boil for 15 minutes.
Finish the pudding
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, water, and molasses thoroughly.
Stir this mixture into the boiled rice and boil for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
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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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Forms the bulk of the pudding and absorbs liquid as it boils, giving it body.
- Suet
- Adds fat, which contributes richness and a softer, moister texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture as it boils, helping it set into a pudding.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and a deep, slightly bitter flavor with some moisture.
The step that matters
Stirring in the flour mixture. Flour mixed with water clumps if left unblended, so it should be mixed thoroughly before it goes into the hot rice. Frequent stirring during the final boil keeps the starch dispersed and prevents scorching on the bottom of the pot.
“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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