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Arroce Doce

A sweet rice pudding made with milk, sugar, almonds, and cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Arroce Doce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rice

  1. Thoroughly wipe the rice with a dry cloth after picking it.

Cook

  1. Combine the rice and milk in a pot and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

  2. Add the sugar and boil until the rice is dry and tender.

  3. Stir in the pounded almonds when the rice is nearly done.

Serve

  1. Transfer the rice to shallow dishes and smooth the surface.

  2. Sift powdered cinnamon over the top before serving cold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Rice + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Carolina rice
Provides the starchy base that thickens as it simmers in the milk.
Whole milk
Supplies the liquid that the rice absorbs, giving a creamy, tender texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the rice set into a thick, sweet mass as it dries.
Blanched almonds
Add nutty flavor and a slightly firm texture to the soft rice.

The step that matters

Boil until the rice is dry and tender. Once the sugar goes in, the rice can scorch on the bottom of the pot and the mixture can stay wet if not cooked down. Stirring steadily as the milk reduces helps the starch cook evenly and gives a firm, sliceable set when cold.

“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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