Why it works: Rice and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Rice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Boil the rice in water until soft, then drain it.
Boil the milk and pour it over the beaten eggs.
Sweeten the mixture with sugar and add nutmeg or lemon peel.
Assemble and bake
Mix the custard with the rice and add the shredded suet.
Transfer the mixture to a tart dish and bake at 300°F (150°C) 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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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + nutmegtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Rice + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,265 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Milk + beeftop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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 once cooked soft.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and adds richness and softness.
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard as they set, binding the pudding together.
- Raw sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the custard brown lightly as it bakes.
- Beef suet
- Adds fat that contributes richness and a moist, tender texture.
The step that matters
Boil the milk and pour it over the beaten eggs. Pouring hot milk onto eggs gradually warms them, which keeps them from scrambling. Adding the milk too quickly or stirring poorly can curdle the custard and leave the pudding grainy.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, egg, sugar, beef):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Turmericfits less well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, egg, sugar, beef. 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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