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Dessert

Rice Cream

A custard-like dessert made with rice, milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Rice Cream

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Rice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rice and milk

  1. Boil the rice until soft but not mushy.

  2. Scald the milk in a saucepan.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together.

  2. Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture and stir well.

  3. Cook the mixture over low heat until it thickens.

  4. While still hot, mix in the rice and add vanilla.

Set and serve

  1. Let the mixture cool, then fold in the whipped cream.

  2. Pour into a wet mold and chill on ice.

  3. When ready, unmold onto a glass dish.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

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

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Rice + vanillatop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,352 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs
Thicken the custard as they set when gently heated, giving the dessert its body.
Milk
Forms the creamy base that the eggs thicken into a smooth custard.
Rice
Provides the body and texture that give the dessert its substance.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps soften its texture as it sets.
Whipped cream
Adds lightness and richness to the cooled custard.

The step that matters

Cook the mixture over low heat until it thickens. Egg proteins set when heated, but too much heat can scramble them and make the custard grainy. Gentle, steady heat thickens it smoothly.

“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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