Why it works: Cinnamon and laurel match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 691 recipes. Both carry cinnamyl acetate, which smells sweet aromatic, cinnamon. The science ↓
Rice Mould
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rice
Wash the rice in several waters.
Place the rice in a stewpan and cover with cold water.
Cook the pudding
Bring to a boil, then add the milk or cream, cinnamon, lemon peel, and laurel leaf.
Boil until the rice is soft.
Sweeten to taste.
Mould and serve
Transfer to a mould and press down tightly.
Let it cool, then turn it out and serve with sweetmeat or jelly.
If using a cylindrical mould, fill the center with fruit or sweetmeat.
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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Cinnamon + laureltop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together691 recipes
Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).
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Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + laureltop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,239 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Its starch swells and softens as it cooks, giving the pudding its body and thickness.
- Milk or cream
- Provides liquid and fat, making the pudding rich, creamy and tender.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the milk or cream.
- Cinnamon
- Adds a warm, aromatic flavour to the milk as it simmers.
The step that matters
Boil until the rice is soft. The grains must absorb liquid and swell fully to become tender and set the pudding. Stopping too early leaves them firm, while over-boiling can thicken the mixture too much or scorch it on the base of the pan.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, cinnamon, laurel, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, cinnamon, laurel, 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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