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 ↓
To Boil Rice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the rice thoroughly.
In a pot, bring salted water to a boil.
Cook the rice
Gradually add the rice and boil hard for 20 minutes.
Pour off the water and set the rice on the back of the stove to steam and dry, or pour it into a colander.
Alternatively, place the rice in a double boiler with salted water, adding more water as it boils away.
Finish
If desired, add milk an hour before finishing cooking.
Cook for three to four hours.
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.
-
Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 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
- Its starch swells and softens in hot water, forming the tender body of the dish.
- Milk
- Adds fat and milk solids, giving the rice a richer, creamier texture.
The step that matters
Adding the milk. Milk contains sugars and proteins that scorch and stick to the bottom of a pot over long heat. Adding it late, and cooking gently as in a double boiler, reduces the risk of burning.
“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.
More boiled rice recipes
You might also like
Delicate Cake246 recipes
Boiled Frosting69 recipes
Citron Cake68 recipes
Scotch Cake63 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.