Name: Soup or Broth
Ingredients: Beef, veal, or chicken bones; Coarse sea salt; Bread or toast; Vermicelli; Macaroni; Rice; Pearl barley; Wholesome vegetables; Pot-herbs

Why it works: Rice and barley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 568 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Soup or Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Simmer the bones of beef, veal, or chicken in water to make broth.
Season with a little coarse sea salt.
Add slices of bread or toast, and any of the following: well-boiled vermicelli, macaroni, rice, or pearl barley.
Include a few wholesome vegetables and pot-herbs according to your taste.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Rice + barleytop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together568 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Beef + barleytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together458 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Beef + ricetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,265 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Bread + barleytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together201 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,032 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).