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 ↓
Ground 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.
Make the base
In a saucepan, gradually stir 4 ounces of ground rice into 1½ pints of milk.
Add a roll of lime peel and a small piece of cinnamon.
Heat while stirring until it boils.
Beat the mixture to a smooth batter.
Reduce heat and let it simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Finish the pudding
In a separate bowl, beat 3 eggs.
Stir the eggs into the pudding along with 2 ounces of sugar and ½ grated nutmeg.
Remove the lime peel and cinnamon.
Mix everything well.
Optionally, add 3 ounces of currants before baking.
Bake
Line a pie dish with puff pastry or grease it with butter.
Pour the pudding mixture into the dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
If boiling, pour into a well-buttered mold and cook 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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Lime + cinnamontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together470 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Lime + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together236 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ground rice
- Thickens the milk into a creamy, set pudding as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the pudding structure and a custard-like texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the rice thickens and the eggs set.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the pudding a tender, browned surface.
The step that matters
Simmer gently after boiling. Once the rice starts to thicken the milk, high heat can scorch the bottom and make the pudding grainy. Gentle simmering lets the starch swell evenly and keeps the batter smooth before the eggs are added.
Swap the currant
The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, lime, cinnamon, egg, sugar, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, lime, cinnamon, egg, sugar, nutmeg. 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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