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 ↓
Rice Gdleau
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Cook the rice
Wash the rice well to prevent burning.
In a saucepan, cover the rice with water, bring to a boil, and simmer until the water is absorbed.
Add the milk, lemon rind, and butter, then simmer until the rice is soft.
Remove the lemon rind and beat the rice with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Sweeten the rice and let it cool.
Mix and bake
Stir the unbeaten yolks of the eggs into the rice.
Butter a mold and sprinkle with bread-crumbs.
Whisk the egg whites to a firm froth and gently fold them into the rice mixture.
Pour the mixture into the mold and bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 50 minutes.
Let it stand for a couple of minutes, then turn it out and serve.
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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Rice + milktop 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
- Starch that cooks down into the soft, creamy body of the pudding.
- Milk
- Liquid that cooks with the rice to give the pudding its creamy texture.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and set the custard, while whipped whites lift the mixture and help it rise.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whites whipped to a firm froth trap air that gives the pudding lift. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring hard would deflate the foam and leave a denser result.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, butter, egg, bread):
- Coconutfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, butter, 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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