Why it works: Sugar and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Rice Meringue
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Take four eggs and one pint of milk; make a custard like boiled custard using both whites and yolks, seasoning with vanilla and sweetening to taste.
Boil a teacup of rice.
Beat the four eggs, yolks and whites very lightly.
Make the pudding
Add two teacups of sugar to the beaten eggs.
Add the hot rice to the eggs, then add a pint of hot milk and two teacups of stoned raisins, and another two teacups of sugar and some vanilla.
Put the mixture into a baking dish and bake.
Finish and serve
When done, take it out and pour the custard over the dish, then put it back in the oven to brown.
Let it cool completely, then serve.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
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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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Eggs
- Set the mixture into a custard structure as they heat and thicken.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and keeps the pudding moist.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown in the oven.
- Rice (in the method)
- Provides the body of the pudding and soaks up the custard liquid.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout.
The step that matters
Bake and brown the custard. Egg proteins set as they heat, so baking too long or too hot can curdle the custard and make it watery or grainy. Pull the dish once it is set and brown only the top.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Lemonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against 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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