Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Rice Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the rice base
Wash the rice and cook it in a double boiler until done and moist.
Stir in the butter, sugar, egg yolks, lemon rind, and half the lemon juice.
Cook for 3 minutes, then pour into a baking dish.
Top and bake
Beat the egg whites, adding sugar, and the remaining lemon juice to make a meringue.
Spread the meringue over the rice pudding and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until the meringue is a delicate brown.
Serve
Serve warm with plain cream.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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, absorbing liquid as it cooks to give a soft, moist body.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard-like base and help it set smooth and creamy when cooked.
- Egg whites
- Whipped with sugar to form the meringue, giving a light, airy topping that browns in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture in the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps the meringue become stable and browned.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps stabilise the meringue.
The step that matters
Cook the rice base until done and moist. Rice must fully soften and hold moisture before the meringue goes on; undercooked rice stays firm and dry, and a wet base can make the meringue weep or sit soggy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, butter, sugar, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Strawberryfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, butter, sugar, egg, cream. 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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