Why it works: Rice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,137 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Rice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Wash the rice and place it in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover it.
Bring the water to a boil, then pour in the milk.
Stir frequently to prevent burning and boil until the rice is soft.
Finish and bake
Transfer the rice to a bowl and stir in the butter or minced suet.
Once cool, add the beaten eggs, a little ground cinnamon or grated nutmeg, and sugar, and mix everything well together.
Steam or bake the mixture as you would for 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.
-
Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Softens as it simmers in milk, forming the thick, creamy body of the pudding.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the rice absorbs and cooks in, giving the pudding its creamy texture.
- Butter or suet
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender mouthfeel.
- Eggs
- Set when heated, binding the pudding and giving it a firmer, custard-like structure.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and contributes to browning on the surface during baking.
The step that matters
Stirring while the rice boils. Rice settles and sticks to the base of the pan as the milk cooks, which can scorch the milk and give a burnt taste. Frequent stirring keeps the grains moving and the milk from catching.
“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.
More rice pudding recipes
You might also like
Rice Fritters84 recipes
Steamed Rice48 recipes
Rice Griddle Cakes28 recipes
Rice and Cheese Casserole23 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.