Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Rice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the rice
Boil rice in a double boiler with milk to prevent sticking.
Season with coarse sea salt and vanilla extract.
Make sure to pour off all milk from the rice before serving.
Make the custard
In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and 1 pint of milk, then add sugar to taste and cook until thickened.
Serve
Pile the cooked rice in the center of a serving dish and pour the custard around it.
Garnish with whipped cream.
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.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Rice + vanillatop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,352 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Starch that softens and thickens as it simmers in milk, forming the pudding body.
- Milk
- Cooks with the rice to give a creamy, tender texture and forms the custard.
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard as they set when gently heated, giving it a smooth body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the custard.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard until thickened. Egg proteins set with gentle heat; if the custard is overheated or cooked too fast, the eggs can curdle and turn grainy instead of smooth.
“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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