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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Thoroughly wash the rice in three waters, removing any grit and imperfections.
Place the rice in a deep pie dish, covering the bottom thickly.
Bake
Pour the milk over the rice.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 hours.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Provides the starch and bulk that thicken and set the pudding as it cooks.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that the rice absorbs, and its milk solids brown and enrich the pudding.
The step that matters
Baking low and slow in the milk. The rice must absorb the milk gradually over a long, moderate bake. Starch swells and softens slowly, so the pudding turns creamy rather than dry or scorched at the edges.
“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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