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 ↓
Patna 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.
Heat the milk in a cloth until it thickens, but do not let it boil.
Pour the milk out and let it cool.
Add cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, and sugar to taste.
Stir in the shredded suet and beaten eggs with salt.
Fold in the chopped raisins or currants and candied peel.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes with a puff pastry crust underneath.
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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Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Nutmeg + raisintop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, egg, raisin, lemon):
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Clovefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, egg, raisin, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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