Name: Pilau of Birds
Ingredients: 6 small birds; 1 pound bacon; salted water (enough to cover); 2 pounds rice; 1 cup butter; salt to taste; 2 egg yolks

Why it works: Rice and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,645 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Pilau of Birds

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cook the birds and rice

Boil the small birds with the bacon in enough salted water to cover them well until tender.
Remove the birds and bacon from the pot.
Add the rice to the boiling water and cook until done, keeping it covered.
Stir in the butter and add salt to taste.

Assemble and bake

In a deep dish, layer half of the rice.
Place the birds and bacon in the middle.
Pour the cooking liquid over the birds and bacon.
Cover with the remaining rice, smooth the top, and spread with the egg yolks.
Cover with a plate and bake for 20 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

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.

Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,645 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Rice + eggtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,350 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Egg yolks spread on top help bind and set the upper layer of rice as it bakes.
Butter: Stirred into the hot rice, butter adds fat and richness and softens the grains' texture.
Rice: Forms the bulk of the dish, absorbing the cooking liquid and providing its main texture.
Bacon: Cooked with the birds in the water, bacon adds smoky, savoury fat and flavour to the broth.

“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.