Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the chicken
Place the chicken and giblets in a large pot and cover with water or chicken stock.
Bring to a boil, then add parsley, thyme, bay leaf, and the onion with cloves.
Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 1.5 hours.
Cook the rice and serve
Wash the rice and add it to the pot with three times as much stock as rice.
Cover and cook gently until most of the stock is absorbed.
Add more stock if needed and stir in the butter to keep the rice grains separate.
Cook until the rice is tender and serve the chicken surrounded by the rice.
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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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,108 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Absorbs the cooking stock and swells into the tender grains that make up the bulk of the dish.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness and helps keep the rice grains separate and glossy.
- Chicken stock
- Provides the liquid that cooks the rice and adds savoury flavour to the grains.
The step that matters
Add more stock if needed and stir in the butter. Rice needs enough liquid to cook through as it absorbs stock. Stirring in butter coats the grains with fat, which helps them stay separate instead of clumping into a sticky mass.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, rice, parsley, thyme, onion, butter, pepper):
- Marjoramfits better
- Garlicfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, rice, parsley, thyme, onion, butter, 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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