Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Rice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the rice
Boil the rice until nearly done.
Add the milk and cook until perfectly done.
Mash the rice while hot and mix in the butter.
Finish and bake
Beat the sugar with the eggs until light, then add to the mixture.
Season with brandy or wine, and nutmeg, or lemon if desired.
Place the mixture in a rich puff pastry crust.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until light brown.
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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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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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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Rice + nutmegtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Forms the body of the pudding, softening as it cooks in the milk.
- Milk
- Cooks with the rice to create a creamy, moist base.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a smoother texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown in the oven.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to bind the pudding and give it structure.
The step that matters
Bake until light brown. Eggs set as they heat, and over-baking can make the custard-like filling dry and rubbery. Pull it from the oven once the top is light brown and the centre has just firmed.
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, butter, sugar, egg, brandy, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, butter, sugar, egg, brandy, nutmeg. 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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