Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Rice Plum Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Boil the rice with lemon peel in the milk until soft.
Mix and bake
Mix butter, sugar, and eggs.
Dredge the fruit with flour, add a little rose water, and put in with the cinnamon.
Bake for one hour and a half.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Rice | 1 cup cooked (158g) white | 206 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp ground (2.2g) | 12 |
| Cinnamon | 1 tsp ground (2.6g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 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.
-
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Rice + teatop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together197 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Tea + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together245 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Softens in the milk and releases starch that thickens the pudding and gives it body.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that cooks the rice and forms the creamy base of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to bind the pudding into a soft, custard-like texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender mouthfeel to the pudding.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown during baking.
- Raisins
- Add chewy pockets of sweetness throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Dredge the fruit with flour. Coating the raisins in flour helps them stay dispersed rather than sinking to the bottom as the pudding sets. Dry raisins can also be tossed in flour so they grip the batter better.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, butter, sugar, milk, tea, egg, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Peachfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, butter, sugar, milk, tea, egg, 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.
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