Name: Rizogalo Me Myla
Ingredients: 3 medium tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/4-inch wedges; juice of one lemon; 3 cups milk; 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; 1/3 cup sugar; 1 cup uncooked rice; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons brandy; Topping:; 1 cup soft breadcrumbs; 2 tablespoons sugar; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine

Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

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.

Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,137 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Rice: Simmered in milk until soft and creamy, it forms the pudding base.
Milk: Cooks with the rice to create the creamy, thickened pudding texture.
Tart apples: Provide tartness and a fruity layer that contrasts with the sweet pudding.
Sugar: Sweetens the pudding and helps the topping brown lightly in the oven.
Butter: Adds richness and flavour to the pudding and the buttery breadcrumb topping.
Breadcrumbs: Form a crisp, golden topping when baked over the apples.

The step that matters

Simmer the rice until soft and creamy. Rice must absorb the milk slowly over low heat while stirred; if it boils too hard or is undercooked, the milk can scorch or the pudding stays grainy and watery.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, milk, butter, sugar, rice, brandy, cinnamon):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Peachfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, milk, butter, sugar, rice, brandy, cinnamon. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Brandy	not in our table	0
Topping	not in our table	0

Rizogalo Me Myla

Rizogalo Me Myla

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

Cook the rice

Assemble and bake

Serve

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)