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 ↓
Rice Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Cook one-half cup of well-washed rice in one cup of boiling water and one-fourth teaspoonful of salt.
When tender, drain the rice and place it in a double boiler with one cup of milk and one cup of cream.
Cook for twenty minutes.
Make the batter
Add the yolks of five eggs that have been beaten lightly with five tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar.
Remove from the stove, set aside to cool, then add one tablespoonful of grated orange peel and a tablespoonful of the juice, fold in the stiffly-beaten whites.
Bake and serve
Bake in a well buttered pudding dish for forty minutes.
Serve immediately with a light, delicate sauce.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Rice | 1 cup cooked (158g) white | 206 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Orange | 1 medium (131g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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).
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Rice + orangetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,067 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Cooked until tender and thickened with milk, it gives the souffle its body and base.
- Eggs
- Whites beaten stiff and folded in provide lift, and yolks enrich and set the custard.
- Milk
- Cooked with the rice, it adds moisture and a soft, creamy texture.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the base and helps stabilise the beaten eggs.
- Orange peel
- Adds aroma and a bright citrus flavour to the souffle.
The step that matters
Folding in the stiffly-beaten whites. Whites hold air only when beaten stiff and folded in gently; overmixing deflates them, so the souffle rises less in the oven.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, egg, sugar. 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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