Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
A Good French Rice Pudding, or GjLTEAJ De Riz
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.
Cook the rice
In a pot, swell the rice in the milk or milk and cream until tender.
Add butter, sugar, salt, and lemon rind, and simmer until the rice is fully swollen.
Remove the rice mixture from the heat and let it cool slightly.
Stir in the beaten egg yolks gradually.
Bake
Coat a small baking pan with clarified butter and sprinkle stale bread crumbs over the butter.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff.
Gently fold the stiff egg whites into the rice mixture.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan without disturbing the crumbs.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 hour until browned and firm.
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Swells in the milk to form the thick, tender body of the pudding.
- Milk or cream
- Provides the liquid that the rice absorbs, giving a creamy, moist texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken and enrich the custard, helping it set firm when baked.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiffness and folded in, adding lightness and airy structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and contributes to browning on the baked surface.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving a smooth mouthfeel and flavour.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that gives lift, so fold gently with a wide motion to keep the air from deflating. Overmixing knocks out the volume and makes the pudding dense.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, rice, butter, sugar, egg, bread):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, rice, butter, sugar, egg, bread. 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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