Name: Brown Rice with Cinnamon Apple Topping
Ingredients: 1 20-ounce can sliced apples; 1/4 cup seedless raisins; 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar; 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 2 to 3 teaspoons cornstarch; 2 tablespoons water; 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; 3 to 4 cups hot cooked brown rice; 1 1/2 to 2 cups light cream or half and half

Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

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.

Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Cinnamon + ricetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,137 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Apples: Provide the main fruit body and tender texture of the topping.
Cornstarch: Thickens the apple juice into a glossy sauce as it cooks.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and caramel-like depth to the apple topping.
Butter or margarine: Adds fat and richness, giving the sauce a smoother mouthfeel.
Light cream or half and half: Adds richness and moisture when served over the rice.
Brown rice: Forms the base that soaks up the warm, thickened topping.

The step that matters

Thickening the cornstarch. Cornstarch must be dissolved in cold water before it is added to the hot apples, or it will clump. It thickens only when it reaches a simmer and the juice turns clear, so the cook should keep stirring until the sauce thickens.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, cinnamon, butter, rice, cream):

Vanillafits better
Coconutfits better
Figfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, cinnamon, butter, rice, cream. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Brown Rice with Cinnamon Apple Topping