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Dessert

Imperial Rice Pudding

A sweet pudding made from boiled rice, butter, eggs, milk, raisins, currants, citron, candied cherries, and flavored with nutmeg and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hatfield (Mass.). Congregational Church · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 24,377 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Imperial Rice Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rice pudding

  1. Boil 1 teacup of rice until soft.

  2. Stir in 3 tablespoons butter, nutmeg, sugar, and salt to taste.

  3. Add 1 quart creamy milk, ½ pound raisins, ½ pound currants, ½ pound citron, and candied cherries.

Make the English cream sauce

  1. Serve with English cream sauce made as follows.

  2. Heat 1 pint rich milk.

  3. Beat 6 eggs and yolks together, then add to the boiling milk.

  4. Sweeten to taste.

  5. Flavor with vanilla.

  6. Beat until cold.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

192Calories
6 gProtein
18 gFat
2 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Salt1 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.

By Hatfield (Mass.). Congregational Church. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
Thicken the custard sauce as they set with heat, giving it body and richness.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer mouthfeel in the pudding.
Milk (in the method)
Provides the liquid base that cooks the rice and forms the custard sauce.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten eggs to boiling milk. Egg proteins set when heated, so adding them to very hot milk can scramble them into lumps instead of a smooth custard. Keeping the mixture controlled and stirring helps it thicken evenly.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg):

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg. 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.

More rice pudding recipes

Baked 88Apple 84with Meringue 40Boiled 38French 30Lemon 29 See all 1,220 →

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