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Milk Puddings

A baked rice pudding made with milk, sugar, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Milk Puddings

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

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.

Prepare the rice

  1. Wash the rice.

  2. Place the washed rice in a pan with plenty of cold water.

  3. Bring the water to a boil.

  4. Pour off the water.

Cook the rice

  1. Add the milk and sugar to the rice.

  2. Simmer until the rice is soft, about 15 minutes.

  3. Let the rice and milk cool slightly.

Bake

  1. Break the egg into a small dish.

  2. Beat the egg well with a fork.

  3. Pour the rice and milk mixture into the dish, mixing well with the egg.

  4. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Softens as it simmers in milk, forming the bulk and body of the pudding.
Milk
Cooks with the rice to provide the creamy liquid that gives the pudding its moisture.
Egg
Sets during baking to bind the pudding and give it a firmer, custard-like structure.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the top brown as the pudding bakes.

The step that matters

Let the rice and milk cool slightly before adding the egg. If the rice and milk are still very hot, they can scramble the beaten egg instead of blending smoothly. Cooling slightly lets the egg mix in evenly and set into a smooth custard when baked.

“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.

More rice pudding recipes

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