Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Ground Rice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the base
In a saucepan, gradually stir 4 ounces of ground rice into 1½ pints of milk.
Add the lemon peel and cinnamon, and heat while stirring until it boils.
Beat the mixture to a smooth batter, then reduce heat and let it simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Finish and bake
In a separate bowl, beat 3 eggs and stir them into the pudding along with 2 ounces of sugar and 2 teaspoons of nutmeg.
Remove the lemon peel and cinnamon, and mix everything well.
Line a pie dish with puff pastry or grease it with butter.
Optionally, add 3 ounces of currants before baking.
Pour the pudding mixture into the dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes, or boil in a buttered mold for 1 hour.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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, set pudding as it simmers and cooks.
- Eggs
- Set the pudding when baked and add richness and structure to the custard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the rice cooks in, giving the pudding its creamy moisture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the flavor of the milk and spices.
The step that matters
Simmer the rice gently after it boils. Ground rice thickens as its starch absorbs liquid and swells. Boiling hard or too long can scorch the milk on the bottom of the pan and leave the batter lumpy or uneven, so a gentle simmer gives a smooth, evenly thickened base.
Swap the currant
The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, lemon, cinnamon, egg, sugar, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Orangefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, lemon, cinnamon, egg, sugar, nutmeg. 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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