Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Rice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Pick and rinse the rice well.
Boil the rice in enough milk until it is soft, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
Transfer the cooked rice to a basin and stir in the butter or suet.
Mix and finish
Once cooled, mix in the beaten eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon zest, and sugar, and combine all ingredients thoroughly.
You can either boil or bake the pudding, similar to bread pudding.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Softens in milk and forms the body of the pudding as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Set when heated, binding the pudding into a firm, custard-like texture.
- Butter or suet
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the flavour of the milk and spices.
The step that matters
Stirring the rice while it boils in milk. Milk contains sugars and proteins that scorch easily on the bottom of a pan. Frequent stirring keeps the rice from sticking and burning while it absorbs the milk and softens.
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, butter, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, butter, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, 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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