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 Pudding with Frttit
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Combine the rice and milk in a stew-pan.
Heat gently without boiling.
Once the rice has absorbed all the milk, stir in the dried currants and the beaten egg.
Finish and serve
Boil the mixture in a bag until the rice is tender.
Serve the pudding warm with sugar and cream.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + curranttop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Provides the bulk and starch that thickens the pudding as it absorbs liquid.
- Milk
- Serves as the cooking liquid that the rice absorbs, creating a creamy texture.
- Egg
- Binds the pudding and adds richness as it sets into the mixture.
- Dried currants
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy fruit pieces throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Heat gently without boiling. Milk scorches easily on direct heat and can boil over. Gentle heat lets the rice absorb the liquid evenly, giving a smooth, creamy pudding without a burnt base.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, egg, sugar, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, egg, sugar, cream. 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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