Why it works: Rice and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Rice Shape
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Cook the rice slowly in the milk with the lemon rind for flavor until tender.
Remove from heat, then stir in the sugar and beaten egg.
Bake
Butter a plain mold well and pour the mixture in.
Cover with buttered paper and bake or steam for 40 minutes until firm.
Serve
Turn out and pour custard sauce around and over.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Its starch softens and thickens in the milk, giving the pudding body.
- Milk
- Liquid the rice absorbs, cooking into a creamy base.
- Egg
- Sets as it heats, binding the pudding so it holds its shape when turned out.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the pudding.
- Lemon rind
- Infuses the milk with citrus aroma.
The step that matters
Baking or steaming until firm. The egg proteins set as they heat. Underbaked, the pudding stays loose and will not hold its shape when turned out. Overbaked, the egg turns rubbery and dry.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, sugar, egg. 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.
More rice pudding recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Rice Cake120 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 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.