Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
RIcE Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and cook the rice
Wash the rice thoroughly and dry it.
In a saucepan, combine the rice with 1 pint of cold water and heat gradually.
Add 1 pint of boiling water and cook well.
Add another pint of boiling water, using a total of 3 pints.
Finish the soup
Beat the egg yolks with the cream in a bowl.
Stir the butter, salt, and pepper into the soup.
Add the cream and egg mixture last, cooking for 1 minute while stirring.
Serve immediately.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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 releases into the water, giving the soup body and a thicker texture.
- Egg yolks
- They thicken the soup as they heat and add richness and a smooth, silky body.
- Rich cream
- Its fat adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel, and it softens the egg yolks' effect on texture.
- Butter
- Its fat adds richness and a rounder flavor to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Adding the egg and cream mixture at the end. Egg yolks thicken at moderate heat but scramble and curdle if they get too hot. Stirring constantly for the short final cook keeps the soup smooth and creamy rather than grainy.
“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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