Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Pears and Rice
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
Pick, wash, and drain the rice.
Place the rice in a saucepan with 1 pint of milk, castor sugar, lemon rind, butter, and a pinch of salt.
Cook until tender, then stir in the egg yolks.
Press the rice into a flat round mold and invert onto a hot dish.
Prepare the pears
Strain the syrup from the pears into a saucepan, add liqueur or vanilla essence if desired, and boil until reduced.
Add the pears to the syrup and heat thoroughly.
Arrange the pears in a pyramid on top of the rice, drizzle with syrup, and sprinkle with castor sugar.
Bake and serve
Cover with stiffly whisked egg whites, dredge with castor sugar, and bake at 350°F (175°C) until the meringue is hardened and slightly colored.
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.
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
-
Pear + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together942 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
-
Pear + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together300 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Cooked in milk until tender, it forms the soft, creamy base of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Egg yolks thicken the rice, while whisked whites form the meringue topping.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and syrup and helps the meringue brown in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smoother, rounder mouthfeel to the cooked rice.
- Preserved pears
- Provide the fruit flavour and moisture, with their syrup sweetening the dish.
The step that matters
Whisking the egg whites. Egg whites must be stiffly whisked so they hold air and form a stable meringue. Underwhipped whites weep and fail to hold their shape in the oven.
Swap the pear
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, sugar, butter, milk, egg, lemon):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Pearthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, sugar, butter, milk, egg, lemon. 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.
You might also like
Lemon Rice Pudding19 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Rice Cake120 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.