Why it works: Rice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,137 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Rice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard base
Combine milk and salt in a saucepan, then place the saucepan in a larger pan with boiling water.
Mix the corn starch with a little cold milk or water, then stir it into the hot milk.
Cook until it boils for 3 minutes, then remove from heat and stir in the butter.
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and stir them into the mixture.
Bake and serve
Add the rice, cinnamon, and brandy, then fold in the beaten egg whites mixed with 1 tablespoon of sugar until stiff.
Pour the mixture into a pudding pan, place it in another pan with a little hot water, and bake for 30 minutes.
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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Rice + corntop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together933 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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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Corn + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together647 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and thicken the custard, while whipped whites lighten the pudding as it bakes.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the hot milk into a smooth, set custard base.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the custard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that sets into the pudding.
- White granulated sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the beaten egg whites.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites until stiff. Whites hold air only when fully whipped and folded gently, so the pudding rises and turns light. Overmixing knocks the air out, leaving a dense result.
“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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