Name: Rice and Seafood Supreme
Ingredients: 1 cup chopped celery; 1/2 cup chopped green pepper; 1/2 cup chopped onion; 3 cups cooked rice; 3/4 pound fresh or frozen shrimp, peeled and deveined; 1/2 pound fresh or frozen crab meat; 1 cup mayonnaise; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce; 3/4 cup crisp rice cereal, crushed; 1 tablespoon butter

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. 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.

Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Shrimp + crabtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together123 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Celery + ricetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,169 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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

Mayonnaise: Adds moisture and richness, binding the rice and seafood into a creamy mixture.
Cooked rice: Forms the bulk of the casserole and absorbs flavor and moisture from the other ingredients.
Shrimp: Provides the main seafood protein, cooking through in the oven and adding savory flavor.
Crab meat: Adds delicate seafood flavor and tender texture throughout the casserole.
Crisp rice cereal: Crushed and buttered, it toasts on top to create a crunchy, golden crust.

The step that matters

Baking the casserole. Shrimp overcooks quickly and turns rubbery, so bake just until the seafood is opaque and the topping is golden. Checking near the low end of the time helps keep the seafood tender.

Swap the celery

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

Garlicfits better
Capersfits about as well
Parsleyfits about as well
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, onion, rice, shrimp, crab, sauce, butter. 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
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Meat	not in our table	0

Rice and Seafood Supreme