Why it works: Rice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,137 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Eice Milk
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
In a saucepan, combine the rice, water, cinnamon or lemon peel, salt, and butter.
Cover and bring to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
Cook for about 1.5 hours until the rice is soft.
Finish and serve
Add the milk and sugar, stirring well.
Allow to boil gently for about 10 minutes 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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Breaks down during long cooking to thicken the liquid into a creamy, starchy body.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and richness, and its proteins and sugars help give the drink a smooth, mellow flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the drink and balances the flavor of the rice and milk.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a richer mouthfeel and a rounder, smoother finish.
The step that matters
Stirring the rice while it cooks. Rice starch settles and scorches on the bottom of the pan as the mixture simmers. Stirring occasionally keeps the grains from sticking and burning, which would give the milk a scorched taste.
“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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