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 Meringue
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.
Prepare the rice base
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine the boiled rice, milk, egg yolks, and lemon rind.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake until set.
Make and finish the meringue
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Gradually add the sugar and lemon juice, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form.
Spread the meringue over the baked rice mixture and brown in the oven.
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 + 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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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the rice base and help it set into a custard-like texture when baked.
- Egg whites
- Whip into foam that forms the light, airy structure of the meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Stabilises the whipped egg whites and sweetens the meringue, helping it brown.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness to the rice base, helping it set softly when baked.
- Boiled rice
- Forms the body of the dish, giving bulk and a soft, tender texture.
The step that matters
Beating the meringue to stiff peaks. Sugar must be added gradually while beating so the whites form a stable foam. Under-beaten or greasy whites will not hold their shape and can collapse or weep on the baked base.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe 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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