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
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the rice base
Boil the rice in the milk until soft.
Stir in the egg yolks, 4 tablespoons of sugar, lemon rind, and salt.
Top and bake
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the lemon juice and 6 tablespoons of sugar until stiff.
Once the rice mixture is cool, pour the egg white mixture on top.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until browned.
Serve
Serve cold with sauce 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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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Rice
- Softens in milk to form the body of the pudding.
- Milk
- Cooks with the rice to create a creamy, moist base.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and help thicken the pudding base.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff foam that gives the topping its light structure and browning.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and stabilizes the whipped egg white topping.
The step that matters
Let the rice mixture cool before topping. Spooning the whipped egg whites onto a hot base can cause them to deflate and weep. A cooled base keeps the meringue-style topping stable so it holds its volume and browns evenly in the oven.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, egg, sugar. 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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