Name: Spanish Rice El Dorado
Ingredients: 1 tbsp whole mixed pickling spices; 4 cups chicken broth; 1 cup tomato sauce; 1 tsp salt; ½ tsp cayenne; 2 cups rice; 1 tbsp oil; 1 tbsp soft butter; ½ cup Italian tomatoes, sliced into small wedges (if Italian tomatoes are not available, use peeled fresh tomatoes, seasoned with a little salt and pepper); ½ cup chopped green pepper

Why it works: Chicken and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. 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.

Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,065 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,031 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,379 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice: Forms the bulk of the dish; toasting in oil coats the grains so they stay separate while cooking.
Chicken broth: Provides the liquid the rice absorbs as it cooks, carrying most of the flavour.
Tomato sauce: Adds tomato flavour, acidity and colour to the cooking liquid.
Butter: Adds richness and a smooth finish stirred in at the end.
Green pepper: Adds fresh, slightly bitter crunch when sprinkled over the cooked rice.

The step that matters

Toasting the rice in hot oil. Sauteing rice until coated and light beige coats each grain in fat, which helps it stay separate and keeps it from turning gummy. Rice that is not coated well can clump and cook unevenly.

Swap the tomato

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

Capsicumfits about as well
Tomatothe original
Potatofits about as well
Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, sauce, rice, butter, pepper. 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
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Spanish Rice El Dorado