Why it works: Rice and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Rice Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Soak the rice for a couple of hours.
Place the rice in a pot with 3 pints of boiling water and a pinch of salt.
Boil quickly for 12 minutes.
Drain and rinse with cold water to separate the grains.
Make the soup
Return the rice to 2 pints of good stock.
Let it boil gently for about 30 minutes.
Beat the yolk of the egg with ½ pint of milk.
Add the beaten egg mixture to the soup before serving.
If desired, add a little grated cheese to the soup.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Rice + cheesetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together942 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Rice
- Starch that thickens the stock and gives the soup its body as it simmers.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and softens the soup's flavour.
- Egg
- The yolk enriches the soup and thickens it slightly for a richer texture.
- Good stock
- Forms the main liquid and carries the savoury flavour of the soup.
The step that matters
Adding the beaten egg mixture. Egg yolk can scramble or curdle when it meets very hot liquid. Mixing it with milk first and adding it gently to the soup, off a hard boil, helps it blend smoothly and thicken evenly.
“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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