Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Richer Rice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare and cook the rice
Rinse the rice thoroughly.
In a pot, combine the rice and milk, and simmer gently until the rice is tender.
Stir in the butter and sugar before removing from heat.
Finish and bake
Allow the mixture to cool slightly, then add the whisked eggs and lemon rind.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake in a gentle oven at 300°F (150°C) for 30 to 40 minutes.
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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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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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Starch that softens in the milk and gives the pudding its body.
- Milk
- Liquid that cooks the rice and forms the creamy base of the pudding.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rich mouthfeel and smooth texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps browning on the baked surface.
- Eggs
- Set when baked, giving the pudding a custard-like structure.
The step that matters
Add the eggs after the mixture cools slightly. Eggs scramble if added to very hot mixture, which leaves a grainy texture instead of a smooth set custard. Cooling slightly first lets the eggs blend in and set evenly in the oven.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, butter, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, butter, sugar, egg. 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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