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 ↓
Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a deep coarse pan, combine the rice, brown sugar or molasses, milk, and dripping.
Bake and serve
Place the pan in the oven and bake until the pudding is cooked through, which will take a while.
Serve as a substantial food.
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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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 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 milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 as it softens and thickens in the milk.
- Brown sugar or molasses
- Adds sweetness and a deep caramel-like flavour as it cooks.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the rice absorbs and that slowly thickens into a creamy custard.
- Dripping
- Adds fat, which contributes richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Baking until fully cooked through. Rice must absorb the milk and soften completely over long, gentle heat. Cooking too briefly leaves firm grains and a thin, watery texture, while the slow oven heat lets the starch gelatinise and the milk thicken evenly.
“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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