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
Mix the rice flour with the chicken broth and stir for a few minutes.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks and cream.
Add the egg yolk and cream mixture to the broth and heat for five minutes without boiling.
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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Rice + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,399 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice flour
- Thickens the broth as its starch swells when heated, giving body to the soup.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the soup and thicken it gently as they set with heat, adding richness.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, softening the texture and rounding out the flavor.
The step that matters
Heating the egg yolk and cream mixture without boiling. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated, leaving a grainy texture. Gentle heat lets them thicken the soup smoothly, so the soup should not be allowed to boil.
“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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