Why it works: Rice and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 851 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
Beef Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Start the stock
Put on your kettle by eight o'clock in the morning.
Break up four or five pounds of a beef shank.
Boil it slowly in water enough for your soup.
Add the vegetables
An hour before you wish to serve, cut up four or five potatoes, half a dozen small onions, and add a tablespoonful of rice, and, if you wish, a little cabbage and celery.
Boil slowly till the dinner is to be served.
Finish
Remove the bones, and if you prefer it clear, strain off the vegetables through a colander or sieve.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Put roast beef bones and ends of beefsteak into your soup kettle for stock, then use it for tomato or cabbage soup and save all the waste.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Beef | 100g cooked | 250 |
| Rice | 1 cup cooked (158g) white | 206 |
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
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.
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Rice + potatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together851 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
-
Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beef + ricetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,265 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef shank
- Gives the broth its meaty flavor and body as it simmers slowly in water.
- Potatoes
- Their starch softens as they cook and slightly thickens the soup.
- Rice
- Its starch releases into the broth during simmering, adding slight body.
The step that matters
Add the potatoes and rice an hour before serving. Potatoes and rice need sustained simmering to cook through. Added too late they stay firm in the center, and added too early or boiled too hard they can break down and cloud the broth.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, rice, pepper):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Tomatofits about as well
- Carrotfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, rice, 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.
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