Name: Rizzoto with Kidneys
Ingredients: 1 beef or 2 veal or pork kidneys,; 1 cup rice,; 2 cups meat broth or water,; 3 tablespoons lard,; 3 onions,; 2 tablespoons tomato sauce,; 1/2 teaspoon paprika,; salt,; pepper,; a little sugar,; grated parmesan to taste,; chopped parsley

Why it works: Rice and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,065 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. 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.

Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,065 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,448 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Kidneys: Provide the main meat; slicing and boiling them first makes them tender and mild.
Rice: Forms the base that absorbs broth and sets into a firm shape in the pan.
Meat broth or water: Supplies the liquid that cooks the rice and forms the sauce with the kidneys.
Lard: Fat for frying the onion and rice, adding richness and browning flavor.
Onions: Soften and sweeten as they fry, building the base flavor of the sauce.
Tomato sauce: Adds acidity and body to the sauce, balancing the richness of the kidneys.

The step that matters

Boiling the kidneys from cold water. Starting from cold water and draining after the boil removes impurities and strong odors, and washing them afterward keeps the kidneys tasting clean and mild.

Swap the onion

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

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits better
Carrotfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, rice, meat, tomato, sauce, pepper, sugar. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Pork	100g cooked	242
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Lard	1 tbsp (12.8g)	115
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Veal	not in our table	0
Meat	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Rizzoto with Kidneys