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Nuts, Cheese, Grains, Pastes, Eggs

A dish of cooked rice combined with a cheese sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chapel, Inie Gage, Mrs. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Nuts, Cheese, Grains, Pastes, Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the rice

  1. Wash the rice in hot water five times, then rinse in cold water three times.

  2. Bring 5 quarts of water to a vigorous boil, add 2 tablespoons of salt, then add the rice, sprinkling it in slowly so the water keeps boiling.

  3. Boil the rice violently for 15 minutes, checking that no hard core can be felt when pinching a kernel between thumb and finger.

  4. Drain the rice in a colander, reserving the rice water for soup.

  5. Steam the drained rice by placing the colander over a pot of a little boiling water or in a cool oven until ready to serve.

Make the cheese sauce

  1. In a small saucepan, stir 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 teaspoon of salt into half a cup of milk.

  2. Heat the remaining milk to a gentle boil, add 2 tablespoons of butter, and let the mixture boil together for two minutes.

  3. Remove the pan from heat, let it cool slightly while grating 2 cupfuls of cheese, then add the cheese and bring the sauce slowly to a boil, stirring constantly.

Combine and serve

  1. Season the sauce with cayenne pepper or white pepper to taste, then pour it over the steamed rice and stir to combine.

  2. Serve hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

591Calories
20 gProtein
26 gFat
70 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Chapel, Inie Gage, Mrs. [from old catalog]. 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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the bulk of the dish; boiling softens the starch until no hard core remains.
Cheese (in the method)
Melts into the sauce, giving it rich flavour and a creamy texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the sauce.

The step that matters

Bring the cheese sauce slowly to a boil while stirring constantly. Cheese proteins can tighten, turn grainy or separate when overheated or left unstirred. Gentle heat and constant stirring keep the sauce smooth and evenly emulsified.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, butter, milk, egg, pepper. 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 and cheese recipes

Casserole 15Croquettes 7Bake 4

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