Why it works: Milk and rice 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 Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
In a double boiler, heat the milk until warm.
Add the rice to the cold milk and cook until the rice is well done.
Beat the egg yolks until light, then mix with the rice and milk, adding sugar and salt.
Let the mixture thicken, then pour it into a pudding dish.
Top and serve
Whip the egg whites and spread them on top, then brown in the oven.
Serve very 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the rice cooks in and the custard sets from.
- Rice
- Absorbs liquid and softens as it cooks, giving the pudding its body.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the pudding as they set, giving it a creamy, rich texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the milk and yolks.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a meringue topping that browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Let the mixture thicken before pouring. Egg yolks set when gently heated, and the pudding relies on that thickening to hold its texture. Pouring too early leaves it loose, and overheating can make the yolks curdle.
“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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