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 ↓
Turkish Rice
Ingredients
Directions
In a pot, combine the brown soup stock and strained tomatoes, and heat to boiling.
Add the washed rice and steam until the rice is soft.
Stir in the butter with a fork and keep uncovered to allow steam to escape.
Serve as a side dish or as a border for curried or fricassée meat.
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.
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Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,065 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Washed rice
- Forms the bulk of the dish and softens as it absorbs the stock and steams.
- Brown soup stock
- Supplies the cooking liquid that the rice absorbs, adding savoury flavour.
- Stewed and strained tomatoes
- Adds acidity and colour, tinting the rice and giving it a tangy flavour.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, coating the grains for a smoother, more savoury taste.
The step that matters
Keeping the pot uncovered after adding the butter. Leaving the lid off lets surplus steam escape so the rice dries slightly and does not turn soggy or gummy once the butter is stirred in.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, butter):
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Leekfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, 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.
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