Why it works: Rice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,137 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Rice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Cook the rice in water with the cinnamon or vanilla until done.
Finish and serve
Add the egg yolks, butter or hot cream, and sugar.
Stir over heat until it boils again.
Serve hot or cold with fruit sauce.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Cinnamon + curranttop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,099 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Cinnamon + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Forms the body of the pudding as its starch softens and swells in water.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the pudding as they heat and add richness and a smooth texture.
- Butter or hot cream
- Adds fat for a softer, rounder mouthfeel and richer flavour.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the flavour of the cinnamon or vanilla.
- Cinnamon or vanilla
- Adds aroma as the rice cooks in it.
The step that matters
Stir over heat until it boils again. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heating, but if the mixture gets too hot or boils hard it can curdle or scramble. Stir constantly so the heat stays even.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, cinnamon, egg, butter, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, cinnamon, egg, butter, 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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