Why it works: Chicken and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Chicken Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Save the liquor from boiling the chicken.
Crack the chicken carcass into pieces and place in a kettle with the liquor.
Add any leftover gravy or dressing.
Stir in 4 tablespoons of rice and bring to a slow boil.
Cover and gently boil for 10 minutes.
Simmer and finish
Transfer to a Caloric cooker and leave for 4 hours or more.
Strain the soup.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,769 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken carcass
- Releases flavour and gelatin into the liquid, giving the soup body and a rich taste.
- Rice
- Thickens the broth as its starch softens and swells during simmering.
- Leftover gravy or dressing
- Adds savoury flavour and extra body to the broth.
The step that matters
Bringing to a slow boil, then gently boiling. A rolling boil makes the broth cloudy and can toughen the rice, while a gentle simmer keeps the liquid clear and the rice tender.
“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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