Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Empress 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
Simmer the rice in the milk until tender and fairly dry.
Add the butter, sugar, and salt to the rice mixture.
Assemble
Line the edge of a pie dish with paste.
Spread a thin layer of rice on the bottom of the dish.
Cover thickly with jam or stewed fruit.
Repeat the layers until the dish is full, finishing with a layer of rice.
Bake and serve
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.
Serve with boiled custard sauce.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Simmered in milk until tender, it forms the soft, creamy body of the pudding.
- Milk
- Cooks with the rice to provide the liquid that gives the filling its creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the rice filling.
- Jam or stewed fruit
- Provides sweetness, moisture and fruit flavour between the rice layers.
- Paste
- Forms the pastry edge that holds the layered filling in the dish.
The step that matters
Simmer the rice until tender and fairly dry. Rice must fully soften in the milk before baking, because it will not finish cooking in the oven. Leaving it too wet can make the layers soggy and loose.
“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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