Why it works: Milk and rice 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 ↓
Cream Rice
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Combine the milk, rice, salt, sugar, and margarine in a buttered pudding dish, then mix well.
Bake
Cook in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 2 to 3 hours, stirring often.
In the last half hour, do not stir.
The pudding is done when it is very soft and has the consistency and color of thick cream.
Cool and serve
Cool and pour into a glass dish.
Serve with thin bits of bright jelly on top, if desired.
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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Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the rice softens in and forms the creamy body of the pudding.
- Rice
- Absorbs liquid and softens during slow baking, thickening the pudding into a spoonable texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the pudding brown slightly as it bakes.
- Margarine
- Adds fat, which gives the pudding a richer mouthfeel and softer texture.
The step that matters
Leaving the pudding unstirred in the last half hour. Stirring near the end breaks up the forming starch and milk structure, so the pudding may stay watery or turn grainy instead of setting into a smooth, creamy texture.
“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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