Name: Rice Soup
Ingredients: 2 gallons veal broth or chicken broth; 1 onion, chopped; 1½ cups rice; Salt and pepper to taste

Why it works: Onion and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,433 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Rice Soup

Ingredients

2 gallons veal broth or chicken broth
1 onion, chopped
1½ cups rice
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare

Soak the rice in water for at least 1 hour.

Make the soup

In a large pot, bring the veal or chicken broth to a boil.
Add the soaked rice and chopped onion to the broth.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Thicken the soup if desired and serve hot.

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.

Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,433 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,379 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,841 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice: Softens as it simmers, adding body and thickening the broth.
Veal or chicken broth: Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour of the whole soup.
Onion: Adds savoury, aromatic sweetness to the broth.