Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Rice Custards
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rice
Boil the rice with the floured raisins or currants until soft.
Drain the rice.
Butter some cups or a mold.
Fill the cups with the rice.
Set aside to cool.
Make the custard
Boil the milk with the cinnamon and peach leaves or kernels.
Strain the milk through a sieve.
Beat the eggs well.
Return the milk to the heat.
Stir in the egg and sugar alternately.
Take it off frequently to prevent curdling.
Do not boil too long to avoid lumps and loss of flavor.
Set aside to cool.
Serve
Turn the rice out onto a deep dish.
Pour some custard over it.
Serve the remainder in a sauceboat.
Optionally, make a stiff froth with egg whites, a few drops of lemon essence, and a little powdered sugar.
Heap it on top of the rice.
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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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Peach + cinnamontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together625 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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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 + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Forms the firm, molded body that holds the shape of the dish.
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat, giving it body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the flavors.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps soften the custard's set texture.
- Raisins or currants
- Add moisture and concentrated sweetness within the rice.
The step that matters
Stir in the egg and sugar alternately, and keep taking the pan off the heat. Egg proteins set when heated, so overheating the custard can curdle it or make it lumpy. Frequent breaks from the heat keep the mixture smooth and thick.
Swap the peach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, raisin, egg, sugar, milk, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Peachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, raisin, egg, sugar, milk, cinnamon. 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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