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Dessert

Rice Pudding

A spiced rice pudding made with milk, spices, butter, eggs, apple syrup, and baked in a puff pastry-lined dish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Coriander and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,498 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

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.

Make the custard base

  1. In a saucepan, combine the cream or milk, coriander seeds, lemon peel, cinnamon, and sugar, then boil for 10 minutes.

  2. Strain the mixture over the ground rice and boil for an additional 10 minutes.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

Assemble and bake

  1. Stir in the butter, brandy, nutmeg, and beaten eggs, then add the apple syrup and mix well.

  2. Line a baking dish with puff pastry and pour in the mixture.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until set but not overcooked.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Coriander + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,498 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Cinnamon + ricetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Coriander + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Coriander + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,854 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding structure and a tender body.
Ground rice
Thickens the milk mixture, giving the pudding its body and a creamy texture.
Cream or whole milk
Provides the liquid base and richness that gives the pudding its creamy texture.
Unsalted butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel.
Apple syrup
Adds fruity sweetness and flavour to the custard.

The step that matters

Bake until just set. Eggs set as they heat and turn grainy and watery if overcooked. Removing the pudding when the centre is just set keeps it smooth and creamy as it cools.

Swap the coriander

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, lemon, cinnamon, sugar, rice, butter, brandy):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Corianderthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, lemon, cinnamon, sugar, rice, butter, brandy. 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.

More rice pudding recipes

Baked 88Apple 84with Meringue 40Boiled 38French 30Lemon 29 See all 1,220 →

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