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 and Raisins
Ingredients
Directions
Boil 3 cups of water in a pot.
Add 1 cup of rice, ½ cup of raisins, and 1 cup of sweet milk.
Cook until the rice is tender.
Serve warm or cold with cream or fruit sauce.
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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Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Its starch absorbs liquid and swells as it cooks, giving the pudding its body.
- Sweet milk
- Adds richness and creaminess, and its milk sugars brown and thicken the liquid slightly as it cooks.
- Raisins
- Add sweetness and chewy bites that contrast with the soft rice.
The step that matters
Cooking until the rice is tender. Milk sugars and proteins can scorch on the bottom of the pot and boil over, while rice cooked too long turns mushy. Moderate heat and checking the texture as the liquid is absorbed keep the pudding creamy.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk):
- Coconutfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Peachfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk. 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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