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 ↓
Rice Pudding No. 1
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Steam the rice in milk until soft.
Add the yolks of the eggs, sugar, and raisins. Stir together.
While hot, pour into a deep dish.
Bake and serve
Bake for 15–20 minutes.
Beat the egg whites. Pour the beaten whites over the top.
Set in the oven to brown slightly.
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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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together565 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 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
- Rice
- Softens as it steams in milk, giving the pudding its body and bulk.
- Milk
- Cooks with the rice to form a creamy base that keeps the pudding moist.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk base as they set, giving a rich, custard-like texture.
- Egg whites
- Beaten and spread on top, they set into a light layer that browns in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps the top brown lightly.
The step that matters
Set in the oven to brown slightly. Egg whites and yolks set with heat, so the pudding can turn rubbery or weep if overbaked. Watch the top and stop once it just colours.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, egg, sugar. 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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