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 Boiled
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick out the hulls from the rice and wash it in cold water.
In a small saucepan with a steamer, combine the rice and cold water.
Cook
Place the small saucepan into another saucepan filled with boiling water.
Add a pinch of salt to the rice, cover, and boil for 45 minutes.
Remove from heat and let it sit for a few minutes until the water is absorbed.
Serve
Fluff the rice with a fork and serve with a milk sauce that has a little brandy.
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 + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,738 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Rice + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,396 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Rice + brandytop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together378 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + saucetop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Forms the starchy body of the dish once its starch gelatinises in water.
- Cold water
- Hydrates the rice grains so they cook through evenly during steaming.
- Milk sauce with brandy
- Adds moisture and richness to the plain rice, with brandy adding aroma.
The step that matters
Letting the rice sit after cooking. Resting off the heat lets residual steam finish absorbing the remaining water, so the grains firm up and the rice does not turn wet or gummy.
“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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