Name: Baked Rice Pudding
Ingredients: 2 ounces well-washed rice; 6 bay leaves; 1½ cups milk; 3 eggs, beaten; 1½ ounces beef or veal suet, finely shaved, or 1½ ounces butter, cut into small pieces; 2 teaspoons arrowroot; ¼ pound moist sugar

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 ↓

Baked Rice Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

2 ounces well-washed rice
6 bay leaves
1½ cups milk
3 eggs, beaten
1½ ounces beef or veal suet, finely shaved, or 1½ ounces butter, cut into small pieces
2 teaspoons arrowroot
¼ pound moist sugar

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Soak the rice and bay leaves in 1½ cups of milk for 15 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves and add the beaten eggs, suet or butter, arrowroot, and sugar to the milk and rice. Mix well and pour into a baking dish.

Bake

Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 45 minutes.

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.

Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,374 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Rice + arrowroottop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together200 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Rice + beeftop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,265 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Milk + beeftop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,759 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Milk + arrowroottop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together817 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice: Provides the starchy body that the set custard holds around.
Eggs: Set when baked, binding the milk and rice into a firm, sliceable pudding.
Milk: Supplies the liquid that the rice absorbs and the eggs set into custard.
Suet or butter: Adds fat for a rich texture and a smoother, more tender crumb.
Arrowroot: Thickens the liquid and helps the pudding hold together as it bakes.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the top brown in the oven.

Swap the arrowroot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, egg, beef, sugar):

Potatofits better
Asparagusfits better
Capsicumfits better
Arrowrootthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, egg, beef, 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.

Rice Cake120 recipes

Arrowroot Pudding46 recipes

Rice Cream43 recipes

Rice Jelly42 recipes

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Baked Rice Pudding