Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
A French Rice Pudding, or Gateau De Riz
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very slack oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Cook the rice
Heat the milk (or milk and cream) gently in a pot.
Add the rice and cook until tender.
Stir in the butter, sugar, salt, and lemon rind.
Simmer until the rice is fully swollen.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Gradually stir in the beaten egg yolks.
Prepare the dish
Grease a small copper stewpan with clarified butter.
Coat the stewpan with stale bread crumbs.
Fold and bake
Whisk the egg whites until stiff.
Gently fold the stiff egg whites into the rice mixture.
Pour the mixture into the prepared stewpan without disturbing the bread crumbs.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour, until browned and firm.
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Egg yolks thicken the custard and whites, whisked stiff and folded in, lighten and set the pudding.
- Rice
- Swollen starch grains form the body and bulk of the pudding.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the rice swells in and forms the creamy base.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a soft, tender mouthfeel to the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and aids browning on the baked surface.
The step that matters
Folding in the stiff egg whites. Overmixing deflates the whisked whites, losing the air that lightens the pudding. Gentle folding keeps the foam intact so the baked pudding rises and sets light rather than dense.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, rice, butter, sugar, egg, bread):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, rice, butter, sugar, egg, bread. 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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