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 Blanc-mange
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rice
Wash the rice in several waters.
Cook
Put the rice into a saucepan with cold milk.
When it boils, add the rich cream.
Boil until the mixture is dry.
For best results, boil in a covered tin pail in a kettle of salted boiling water.
Set and serve
Pour it into a mold and let it cool.
It will turn out in good shape when cold.
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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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Rice + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,399 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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 absorbs milk and softens during cooking.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the rice absorbs and cooks in, giving a tender texture.
- Rich cream
- Adds fat and richness, making the pudding smoother and more tender.
The step that matters
Boil until the mixture is dry. Cooking until the liquid is absorbed lets the starch in the rice thicken and set the pudding. Stopping early leaves it loose, and it will not hold its shape when cooled in a mold.
“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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