Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Rice Pudding, Baked, Baron Brisse's
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the rice
Wash the rice and remove discolored grains.
Soak the rice gently in minimal milk until swollen.
Transfer the rice to a bowl and let it cool.
Make the batter
Add lemon rind, salt, powdered sugar, butter, and egg yolks.
Whisk the egg whites to a firm froth.
Gently fold the egg whites into the rice mixture.
Bake and serve
Butter a copper cake mold and sprinkle with bread crumbs, shaking off excess.
Brush a little butter over the crumbs.
Pour the mixture into the mold carefully to avoid displacing the crumbs.
Bake in a very gentle oven at 300°F (150°C) for about 1 hour or until done.
Carefully turn out the pudding to avoid breaking it.
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 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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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Forms the body of the pudding, absorbing milk as it soaks and swells.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that the rice absorbs and that sets with the eggs into a custard.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the mixture and help it set into a tender, custard-like texture.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a foam, they lighten the mixture and help it rise during baking.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves easily into the rice and milk mixture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor, and helps keep the pudding moist.
The step that matters
Fold the egg whites gently. Whipped egg whites trap air that gives the pudding its lift. Stirring or beating them in vigorously knocks out that air, leaving a denser, flatter result.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, sugar, butter, egg, bread):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, sugar, butter, egg, bread. 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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