Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 ↓
Souffle Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Blend the ground rice with a little milk until smooth.
Heat the milk with the vanilla stick until it boils, then remove the vanilla.
Pour the hot milk over the blended rice, add the butter, sugar, and beaten yolks, stirring well.
Mould and steam
Butter a mold and tie buttered paper around it, extending about six inches above the mold.
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently and pour the mixture into the mold.
Steam for one hour, ensuring the water in the saucepan reaches halfway up the mold.
Serve
Serve immediately with strawberry 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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Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Rice + vanillatop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Yolks enrich and bind the custard, while the whipped white lightens the pudding as it steams.
- Ground rice
- Starch thickens the milk mixture and gives the pudding its body and structure.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender texture.
- Milk or cream
- Provides the liquid that sets with the starch and eggs, adding moisture and richness.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and adds softness to the texture.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air only while whipped, so folding them in gently keeps the mixture light. Vigorous stirring knocks out the air and the soufflé-style pudding rises less.
“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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