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 Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Boil the rice in salted water with the orange or lemon rind until tender.
Drain the rice and remove the peel.
Make the cream
Soften the gelatine in cold water, then dissolve it in hot milk with sugar.
When the mixture begins to firm, add sherry or madeira and fold in whipped cream.
Mould the mixture and chill.
Serve
Garnish with whipped cream and candied peel, or serve with cream or preserved fruits.
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.
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.
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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 + orangetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,067 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Orange + sherrytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together823 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,479 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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 dessert, giving it a soft, starchy texture once cooked and cooled.
- Gelatine
- Sets the milk mixture so it holds its shape when moulded and chilled.
- Heavy cream
- Adds richness and a light, airy texture when whipped and folded in.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dessert and balances the flavour of the milk and cream.
- Hot milk
- Carries the dissolved gelatine and sugar, providing moisture and a creamy base.
The step that matters
Folding in the whipped cream as the mixture begins to firm. If the gelatine mixture has set too far, the whipped cream cannot be blended in evenly and the dessert becomes lumpy. If it is still too liquid, the cream deflates and the dessert will not hold its shape when chilled.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, sugar, sherry, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, sugar, sherry, cream. 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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