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Drink

Rice Water

A soothing drink made from rice, milk, flour, and potash, used for sick and infants.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Rice Water

Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Rice Water

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rice water

  1. Take two ounces of rice and two quarts of water.

  2. Boil for an hour and a half.

  3. Add sugar and nutmeg to taste; optionally add salt.

Make the thickened mixture

  1. Mix half an ounce of wheat flour, half an ounce of malt flour, seven and a quarter grains of bicarbonate of potash, and an ounce of water.

  2. Add five ounces of fresh milk and put the mixture on a gentle fire.

  3. When it begins to thicken, take it from the fire.

  4. Stir for five minutes.

  5. Heat and stir again until it becomes quite fluid.

  6. Finally boil for a short time.

Finish and rest

  1. Filter through a sieve to separate the bran; it is then ready for use.

  2. Keep for twenty-four hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

616Calories
21 gProtein
10 gFat
108 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 5 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Wheatnot in our table0
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.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Wheat + nutmegtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together359 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 (in the method)
Its starch thickens the water and gives the drink body.
Wheat flour
Its starch thickens the milk mixture as it heats.
Fresh milk
Adds fat and richness, softening the drink's texture.
Bicarbonate of potash
Alkaline salt that changes the mixture's chemistry and helps it loosen when heated.

The step that matters

Heating after thickening. Once the starch has thickened, heating too hard or too long can scorch the milk or break the texture. Gentle heat and steady stirring keep it smooth until it becomes fluid again.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, wheat, flour):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Jalapenofits about as well
  4. Turmericfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, wheat, flour. 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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