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Dessert

Rice Cheesecakes

A baked dessert made with rice, eggs, butter, cream, sugar, nutmeg, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Rice Cheesecakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rice

  1. Boil the rice until tender and drain it in a sieve.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, combine the beaten eggs, butter, cream, sugar, grated nutmeg, and brandy.

  2. Add the drained rice and mix well.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into raised crusts.

  2. Bake until set.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Rice + nutmegtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Nutmeg + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Provides the bulk and body of the filling, giving a soft, starchy texture once cooked.
Eggs
Set when baked, giving the filling its structure and holding it together as it cools.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing a tender, smooth mouthfeel to the filling.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, helping the filling bake to a smooth, custard-like texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it brown lightly in the oven.
Brandy or ratifia
Adds aroma and a warm, fragrant flavour that complements the nutmeg.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the filling runny while overbaking can make it dry and cracked. Watch for the centre to firm slightly.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, egg, butter, cream, sugar, brandy):

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits less well
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, egg, butter, cream, sugar, brandy. 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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