Why it works: Onion and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Stewed Rice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick over and wash the rice carefully.
In a dry pot, heat the dripping or butter until hot.
Add the minced onion and fry until light brown, stirring constantly.
Stew the rice
Add the stock, rice, and seasonings to the pot.
Cover and stew gently for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
If the stock is absorbed before the rice is done, add more hot stock to keep it moist.
Finish
If using cheese, stir in the grated cheese when the rice is done and let it heat for 1 to 2 minutes without boiling, or sprinkle it on top after serving.
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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Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Rice + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,265 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Forms the bulk of the dish, absorbing the stock as it cooks to become tender.
- Stock
- Supplies the cooking liquid that the rice absorbs, giving it flavour and moisture.
- Dripping or butter
- Fat that carries flavour and helps the onion brown in the pot.
- Onion
- Browned in fat to add savoury sweetness and aroma to the base of the dish.
- Grated cheese
- Adds richness and savoury flavour when stirred in at the end.
The step that matters
Frying the onion until light brown. Stirring constantly keeps the onion from scorching, since browned sugars and proteins add aroma while burnt ones turn bitter and can taint the whole pot.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, rice, beef, pepper, cheese):
- Potatofits better
- Tomatofits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, rice, beef, pepper, cheese. 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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