Why it works: Rice and milk match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 7,354 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: meringue
Directions
Make the rice base
Simmer a quarter of a pint of rice in a quart of milk until it is very soft and thick.
Add a teaspoonful of salt, four tablespoonfuls of sugar, a little cream, and let all cool together a few minutes.
Pour into a pudding dish and bake until set.
Top and finish
Spread a thick layer of orange marmalade over the pudding.
Spread a layer of meringue over the marmalade.
Return to the oven until the top is lightly browned.
Serve cold.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Rice + milktop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,354 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 9% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together77,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + ricetop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk share little aroma chemistry, yet 77,855 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Cooks down in milk to thicken and form the soft body of the pudding.
- Milk
- Cooks with the rice to create a creamy, thickened base.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding base and the meringue layer.
- Orange marmalade (in the method)
- Adds fruity sweetness and a bright, tangy flavour under the meringue.
- Meringue (in the method)
- Forms a light topping that browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Return to the oven until the top is lightly browned. Meringue can easily over-brown or stay pale if left too long or too short. Watching the top closely lets the sugar in the meringue caramelise to a light golden colour without scorching.
“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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