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Arkansas Cumin Rice

A cumin-flavored rice dish cooked with onion, green pepper, bacon drippings, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, and salt.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and cumin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,498 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Arkansas Cumin Rice

Oven350 degrees
Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the rice base

  1. Cook onion, pepper and rice in bacon drippings until rice is golden brown.

  2. Use low heat and stir to prevent over-browning.

Bake and serve

  1. Turn into shallow 2-quart casserole.

  2. Add drippings, broth, Worcestershire sauce, salt and cumin; stir well.

  3. Cover tightly with lid or foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.

  4. Fluff lightly with fork.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

710Calories
37 gProtein
33 gFat
63 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 11 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Drippingnot in our table0
Seednot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

  1. Onion + cumintop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,498 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Pepper + cumintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,382 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Rice + cumintop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together933 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Uncooked rice
Forms the body of the dish and absorbs the broth as it bakes.
Beef broth or consomme
Supplies the liquid that cooks the rice and adds savory flavor.
Bacon drippings or vegetable oil
Fat that helps the rice toast to golden brown and carries flavor.
Cumin seed
Provides warm, earthy aroma that defines the flavor of the dish.
Chopped onion
Adds savory sweetness and aroma as it softens in the fat.

The step that matters

Browning the rice. Rice should turn golden, not dark, over low heat. Stirring prevents scorching, since over-browned grains taste bitter and burnt.

Swap the cumin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, pepper, rice, beef, sauce):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Celeryfits about as well
  3. Turmericfits about as well
  4. Cuminthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, rice, beef, sauce. 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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