Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
A Tansey Pudding of Ground Rice
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the pudding base
Boil the ground rice in milk until soft.
Add butter to the mixture.
Add beaten eggs to the mixture.
Add sugar to the mixture.
Add rose water to the mixture.
Mix the mixture well.
Add the greens
Blend spinach and tansey leaves in a mortar.
Squeeze out the juice from the blended spinach and tansey leaves.
Add the juice to the mixture.
Bake and serve
Cover the dish with buttered writing paper.
Pour the mixture into the dish.
Bake for 45 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
Garnish with orange quarters before serving.
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 + buttertop 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).
-
Rice + spinachtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together518 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
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Rose + orangetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together876 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Rice + orangetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,067 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ground rice
- Thickens the milk as it boils and gives the pudding its body and soft setting.
- Eggs
- Set the custard when baked, adding structure and a tender, creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the rice cooks in and the custard sets from.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and contributes to browning on the surface in the oven.
The step that matters
Boil the ground rice in milk until soft. The rice must be fully softened before the eggs go in. Ground rice that is undercooked stays grainy, and adding hot eggs to a mixture that is not properly cooked can scramble them, so the base should be thoroughly tender first.
Swap the spinach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, butter, egg, sugar, rose, orange):
- Sweet potatofits better
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, butter, egg, sugar, rose, orange. 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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