Why it works: Rice and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Peptonised Milk Gruel
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 125°F (52°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the gruel
Prepare a thick gruel from the farinaceous articles.
While the gruel is still hot, mix it with an equal amount of cold milk.
Ensure the mixture reaches a temperature of about 125°F (52°C).
If using cold milk, warm it to 60°F (16°C) before mixing.
Digest and finish
Add 2 teaspoons of liquor pancreaticus and 20 grains of bicarbonate of potash to the mixture.
Cover the mixture and let it sit in a warm place for 2 to 3 hours.
Finally, heat the mixture to boiling and strain it.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 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
- Farinaceous articles
- Provide starch that forms the thick body of the gruel.
- Cold milk
- Adds moisture and dairy proteins that give the gruel a soft, milky texture.
- Liquor pancreaticus
- Enzymes that break down proteins and starches, partly digesting the mixture.
- Bicarbonate of potash
- Raises the alkalinity of the mixture, helping the enzymes work.
The step that matters
Holding the mixture warm during digestion. Enzymes such as those in liquor pancreaticus work fastest within a narrow warm range. Too cold and they act slowly; too hot and they are denatured, so the mixture will not digest properly.
“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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