Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Rice Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the base
Mix the ground rice with 6 tablespoons of milk until smooth.
Combine this mixture with the remaining milk and butter in a saucepan, stirring over medium heat for about 30 minutes until thickened.
Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs.
Beat the yolks in a bowl and stir in the rice mixture and enough sugar to sweeten.
Fold and bake
Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them into the rice mixture.
Pour the mixture into a souffle dish and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven, sprinkle with sifted sugar, and serve immediately in the baking dish.
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 + 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 + 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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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whites trapped as foam give the soufflé its lift; yolks enrich and set the custard.
- Ground rice
- Thickens the milk into a starchy base that holds the soufflé together.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the rice thickens into a smooth custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and adds a little tenderness to the set mixture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, smoother texture.
The step that matters
Folding the egg whites. Whites hold air only when whipped to stiff peaks, and overmixing or deflating them while folding causes the soufflé to rise poorly and turn dense.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, egg, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, egg, sugar, butter. 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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