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Rice-pudding Meringue

A sweet rice pudding topped with a baked meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,456 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Rice-pudding Meringue

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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 the base

  1. Swell the rice gently in the milk or cream until tender.

  2. Let it cool slightly, then stir in the butter, powdered sugar, salt, lemon rind, and egg yolks.

  3. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered dish.

Make the meringue and bake

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then mix in the sifted sugar.

  2. Spread the meringue evenly over the pudding.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes until the meringue is lightly browned and crisp.

  4. Serve immediately after baking.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Rice + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Carolina rice
Swells in the milk as it cooks, giving the pudding its body and soft, creamy texture.
Milk or thin cream
Cooks the rice and provides moisture, so the pudding sets soft rather than dry.
Egg yolks
Enrich the custard and help it set, adding richness and a smooth texture.
Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff foam that forms the meringue topping, which bakes crisp and browns.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and, in the meringue, stabilises the whipped whites and helps them brown.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel in the pudding.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Whites must be whipped to a firm foam before the sugar is folded in. Under-whipped whites will weep and fail to hold a crisp, lightly browned topping.

“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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