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 ↓
A Good Ground Rice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the custard
Mix the ground rice with ½ pint of milk until smooth.
Pour the mixture into 1 pint of boiling milk, stirring constantly over gentle heat for 10 to 12 minutes.
Add the butter, sugar, and salt, stirring until combined.
Remove from heat and stir for a few minutes to prevent hardening.
Quickly mix in the egg yolks, egg whites, lemon rind, and brandy.
Bake and serve
Prepare a buttered dish with a border of pastry.
Pour the pudding into the dish.
Drizzle clarified butter over the pudding.
Moisten the pastry with cold water.
Sprinkle sugar on top.
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 45 minutes.
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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Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ground rice
- Thickens the milk as its starch gelatinises, giving the pudding a creamy, set body.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and help it set into a rich, tender texture when baked.
- Egg whites
- Add lightness and help the pudding rise and set with a softer structure.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel to the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps brown the surface during baking.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the rice thickens into a custard.
The step that matters
Stirring the rice mixture over gentle heat. Ground rice starch thickens as it heats and can scorch or lump if left unstirred over direct heat. Constant stirring keeps the custard smooth, and stirring off the heat prevents it from hardening as it cools.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, butter, sugar, egg, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, butter, sugar, egg, 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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