Why it works: Almond and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,456 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Blancmange
Ingredients
Directions
Make the milk base
Steep the laurel leaves in the milk, then remove them.
Add the rice to the milk and boil for 10 to 15 minutes.
Set
Pour the mixture into a quart mold and refrigerate overnight to firm up.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Almond + ricetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,456 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Laurel + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together832 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Laurel + milktop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,339 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the rice thickens and the dessert sets from.
- Rice
- Releases starch as it simmers in the milk, thickening the mixture and giving it body.
- Laurel leaves
- Infuse the milk with a subtle aromatic flavor before they are removed.
The step that matters
Boiling the rice in the milk. Milk scorches on the bottom of the pan and boils over easily. The rice must cook long enough to soften and release starch, which is what thickens the milk so it will set when chilled.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (laurel, milk, rice):
- Beansfits better
- Lentilsfits better
- Walnutfits better
- Almondthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against laurel, milk, rice. 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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