Why it works: Rice and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,311 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Rice and Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Boil the rice in water until very soft, stirring to prevent burning.
Stew the apples until soft, then press the pulp through a sieve.
Mix the apple pulp thoroughly with the rice.
Add the butter and beaten egg yolks, then sweeten to taste.
Bake and serve
Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and bake until set.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and spread on top of the pudding before serving.
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 + appletop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,311 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Cooked until very soft, it gives the pudding its body and bulk.
- Apples
- Pressed into pulp, they add moisture, natural sweetness and fruity flavour.
- Egg yolks
- They enrich the mixture and help it set into a custard-like texture when baked.
- Egg whites
- Beaten until stiff, they form a light topping that adds airy texture.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff. Whites must be beaten until they hold firm peaks, which traps air and gives a light topping. Underbeaten whites stay runny and sink into the pudding, while overbeaten whites turn dry and grainy.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, butter, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, butter, 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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