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 ↓
Ground Rice Pudding
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.
Make the rice base
Break the ground rice into a smooth paste with a little milk.
Boil the rest of the milk in a saucepan.
Pour the boiling milk onto the ground rice.
Put the milk and rice into a rinsed pan.
Bring to a boil.
Cook for about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Add the sugar.
Let cool slightly.
Add the eggs and bake
Beat the eggs.
Add the yolks to the rice.
Mix well.
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
Gently fold into the mixture.
Turn into a greased pie dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 20 minutes.
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.
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Ground rice
- Thickens the milk into a smooth, creamy pudding as it cooks.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the rice thickens and gives the pudding its body.
- Eggs
- Add richness and help set the pudding, while the whites lighten it when folded in.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and softens the set texture slightly.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that lightens the pudding. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring vigorously deflates the foam and leaves the pudding dense.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, egg, 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.
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