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 Meringue
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Cook the rice
Boil the rice in water until almost tender, then drain.
Combine the rice, milk, sugar, and flavoring in a saucepan.
Simmer until the rice absorbs all the milk.
Stir in the beaten yolks of the eggs.
Spread the mixture in a buttered dish.
Make the meringue and bake
Beat the egg whites to a firm froth.
Add the powdered sugar and mix well.
Spread the meringue evenly over the rice mixture.
Sprinkle with additional sugar.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until the surface is browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Serve
Boil fruit to a pulp, sweeten it, and place it in the center of the dish, surrounded by 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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Rice + milktop 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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Sugar + eggtop 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
- Rice
- Absorbs the milk and sugar to form the soft, creamy base of the dessert.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the rice absorbs, creating a moist, custardy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the rice mixture and help it set into a rich, tender base.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam to form a light meringue that puffs and browns in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dish and helps the meringue brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to a firm froth. Egg whites must be whipped until they hold stiff peaks so the meringue stays light and airy. Underbeaten whites stay runny and sink into the rice, while overbeaten whites turn dry and grainy.
“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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