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Rice, Spanish

A simple Spanish rice dish made with ground steak, rice, tomatoes, green pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Rice, Spanish

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a pot.

  2. Cover and cook over low heat for 1 hour.

  3. Stir frequently.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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.

  1. Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. 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

Ground round steak
Adds meaty flavor and protein for a savory, substantial body.
Uncooked rice
Absorbs liquid as it cooks, swelling and giving the dish its starchy texture.
Tomatoes
Provide moisture and acidity that flavor the rice and meat as they cook.
Green pepper
Adds fresh, slightly sharp aroma and a tender bite.

The step that matters

Cover and cook over low heat for 1 hour. Gentle, covered heat lets the rice absorb liquid and soften evenly. Heat that is too high can scorch the bottom of the pot and leave the mixture dry, so stirring frequently helps prevent sticking.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits about as well
  3. Tomatothe original
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against 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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