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Scalloped Rice

A baked rice dish layered with cheese, pepper, milk, and buttered cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Scalloped Rice

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rice

  1. Steam the rice with salt.

Layer and bake

  1. Cover the bottom of a baking dish with a layer of rice, sprinkle with cheese and a few grains of pepper.

  2. Repeat layering until all rice is used.

  3. Fill the dish halfway with milk.

  4. Top with buttered cracker crumbs.

  5. Bake until the cheese is melted and the crumbs are brown.

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. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Rice + cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together942 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the bulk of the dish and absorbs the milk as it bakes, giving body.
Mild grated cheese
Melts between the rice layers, adding richness and a savory, creamy flavor.
Milk
Supplies the moisture that softens the rice and sets into a tender, saucy base.
Cracker crumbs
Toast on top in the oven, adding browning and a crisp contrast to the soft interior.

The step that matters

Bake until the cheese is melted and the crumbs are brown. Browning of the buttered crumbs depends on oven heat and time. Pulling the dish too early leaves the milk unset and the rice firm, while overbaking dries the layers and scorches the top.

“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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