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 ↓
Rice, Conde
Ingredients
Directions
Make the rice
Wash and boil the rice in milk.
Add coarse sea salt and sugar to sweeten.
Flavor with orange or lemon extract.
When the rice is dry, incorporate the egg yolks to bind.
Shape and serve
Set aside until cold.
Form the mixture into pyramids.
Garnish with stewed prunes and glazed fruits.
Serve cold.
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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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + orangetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,067 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 bulk of the pudding and absorbs milk to give it a creamy, soft body.
- Milk
- Cooks with the rice to provide the liquid that makes the pudding creamy and tender.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and adds flavor balance.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the mixture and add richness as the pudding sets when cooled.
The step that matters
When the rice is dry, incorporate the egg yolks to bind. Adding yolks to rice that is still wet can curdle or thin the mixture. Once the rice has absorbed its liquid and is dry, the yolks blend in smoothly and help the pudding hold its shape when chilled.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, sugar, egg. 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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