Why it works: Rice and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
★ Rice Charlotte
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Boil rice in salted water for 20 minutes to ½ hour.
Drain the rice and cook it in milk in a double boiler for 1 hour.
Make the charlotte
Add water to the drained rice to make ½ cup, then add sugar, flavoring, and gelatin to the rice while it is partly cooled.
Lightly fold in whipped cream and mold the mixture.
If desired richer, use 1 cup of milk for cooking the rice and add 1 cup of whipped cream.
Serve
Serve the charlotte alone or with plain or whipped cream, orange egg cream sauce, fruit sauce, or halves of nuts.
When serving with fruit sauces, omit the flavorings.
Garnish with small molds of orange or other fruit jelly around the charlotte.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Rice | 1 cup cooked (158g) white | 206 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
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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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Rice + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,399 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Forms the body of the charlotte, giving it a soft, set structure as it cooks in milk.
- Milk
- Cooks with the rice to create a creamy, tender base that carries the flavor.
- Whipped cream
- Adds air and richness, giving the molded charlotte a light, moist texture.
- Gelatin (in the method)
- Sets the rice mixture so it holds its shape when molded.
The step that matters
Fold in the whipped cream lightly. Whipped cream is full of trapped air. Folding gently keeps that air in, so the mixture stays light; vigorous stirring deflates it and makes the charlotte dense.
“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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