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 Rice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slack oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a large pot, combine the rice and milk.
Stir in the sugar and grated nutmeg.
Add the butter and mix well.
Bake
Butter a baking dish and pour the mixture into it.
Bake in the oven until set, about 1 hour.
If desired, add currants for extra flavor.
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 + nutmegtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Provides the starchy body that thickens and sets the pudding as it bakes.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that the rice absorbs and that cooks into a creamy custard-like texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the pudding brown lightly at the surface.
- Fresh butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving a smoother, softer mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Rice and milk need enough time in the oven for the starch to swell and the mixture to firm. Pulling it too early leaves a loose, runny pudding.
Swap the currant
The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, sugar, nutmeg, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, sugar, nutmeg, butter. 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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