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Dessert

A Rich Rice Pudding

A rich rice pudding made with rice, eggs, cream, suet, currants, brandy, and spices, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

A Rich Rice Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the rice

  1. Boil the rice in water with salt until tender.

  2. Drain the rice well.

Make the filling

  1. Mix the rice with the eggs, cream, melted butter, suet, currants, brandy, peach water, nutmeg, and lemon peel.

  2. Place the paste around the edge of a baking dish.

  3. Fill the dish with the mixture.

  4. Top with slices of candied fruit if desired.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) 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. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Rice + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,265 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Rice + peachtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together171 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Brandy + peachtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together339 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the bulk of the pudding and gives it a tender, soft body.
Eggs
Set when baked, binding the pudding into a firm, sliceable custard-like texture.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, softening the set custard.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender crumb.
Suet
Adds fat and richness, keeping the pudding moist and full-flavoured.
Currants
Add sweetness and chewy fruit pieces throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Drain the rice well. Excess cooking water left on the rice dilutes the egg and cream mixture, so the pudding may not set firmly and can turn watery in the baking dish.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Currantthe original

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