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Dessert

Rice Mould and Strawberry Sauce

A gelatinous rice dessert set with cream and rice, topped with a warm strawberry jam and brandy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Rice Mould and Strawberry Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rice and gelatine

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water for 30 minutes.

  2. Boil the rice in rapidly boiling water for 30 minutes, then drain until dry.

Make the mould

  1. Whip the cream.

  2. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and the cooked rice to the cream.

  3. Heat the gelatine over hot water until liquid.

  4. Strain the liquid gelatine into the cream mixture.

  5. Stir until it begins to set.

  6. Pour the mixture into wet moulds.

  7. Refrigerate until hardened.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Heat the strawberry jam thoroughly.

  2. Remove the jam from heat.

  3. Stir in the brandy.

  4. Serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Vanilla + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Rice + vanillatop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,352 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Vanilla + strawberry jamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together98 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Gelatine
Sets the cream mixture so the mould holds its shape when chilled.
Cream
Whipped to trap air, giving the mould a light, creamy body.
Rice
Adds bulk and a soft, tender texture to the mould.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the cream mixture and balances the flavour.
Strawberry jam
Provides the fruity sweetness and flavour of the sauce.
Brandy
Adds a warm, aromatic note to the strawberry sauce.

The step that matters

Stir the gelatine in until it just begins to set. Gelatine must be fully liquid to mix evenly, but once it starts to thicken it sets quickly. Stirring at that point distributes it through the cream so the mould sets smoothly rather than in lumps or layers.

Swap the strawberry jam

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, cream, sugar, vanilla, brandy):

  1. Apricotfits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Strawberry jamthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, cream, sugar, vanilla, brandy. 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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