Why it works: Rice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,137 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Rice Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the rice well in two or three waters.
In a saucepan, bring 1 quart of warm water to a boil.
Make the rice water
Add the rice and cinnamon stick to the boiling water.
Boil for 1 hour until the rice becomes a pulp.
Strain the rice water into a basin and sweeten to taste.
Let it cool before using.
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.
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Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Rice
- Breaks down during boiling to release starch, giving the drink its body and thickness.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm, aromatic flavour to the water as it simmers.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the finished rice water to taste.
The step that matters
Boil for 1 hour until the rice becomes a pulp. The rice must cook long enough for its starch to fully release into the water. Stopping early leaves a thin liquid with little body and rice grains that have not softened.
“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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