Why it works: Rice and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,366 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Lemon Rice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the pudding
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine the rice, beaten egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon rind.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake for about 20 minutes.
Make the meringue and finish
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gradually add ¾ cup sugar and lemon extract to the egg whites, continuing to beat until well combined.
Spread the meringue over the pudding and brown it in the oven.
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 + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Forms the body of the pudding and gives it a soft, starchy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the pudding and help it set into a custard-like texture.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a meringue that gives a light, airy topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps the meringue stay stable and glossy.
- Lemon
- Provides acidity and bright citrus aroma from juice and rind.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites must be whipped until stiff peaks form, and sugar added gradually, so the foam holds its shape and browns evenly. Under-whipped or greasy whites will weep or collapse on top of the pudding.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, egg, sugar. 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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