Why it works: Rice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,137 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Rice Puddino
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
Pick and wash the rice.
Set the rice on the fire in cold water and let it boil for about 5 minutes.
Combine and bake
Drain off the water and put the rice in a deep dish with the milk and a pinch of salt.
Cover with a plate and set in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
Finish and cook
When the rice is done, transfer it to a basin and stir in the butter, sugar, and seasoning.
When nearly cold, add the well-beaten eggs.
Boil in a buttered basin or bake in a pudding dish.
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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Provides the bulk and body of the pudding as it cooks and softens.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that makes the rice tender and gives a creamy base.
- Eggs
- Set when heated, giving the pudding structure and a custard-like firmness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the richness of the milk and butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat, which contributes richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Adding the beaten eggs when nearly cold. If the rice mixture is still very hot when the eggs go in, the proteins can scramble into curds instead of setting smoothly. Letting the mixture cool first helps the eggs thicken evenly into a smooth, creamy pudding.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, butter, sugar, egg, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, butter, sugar, egg, cinnamon. 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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