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
Make the broth
Place the chicken quarters in a soup kettle with 4 quarts of water and 1 onion.
Bring to a boil slowly and cook until the liquid reduces to 1 quart and the meat shrinks from the bones.
Remove the chicken, season with salt, and set aside with 1 cup of broth until the next day.
Season the remaining broth and return it to the heat to boil, skimming as necessary.
Finish the soup
Add the soaked rice and cook slowly until tender.
In a bowl, stir together the beaten eggs and hot milk, then add to the broth.
Bring everything to a boil, then stir in the minced parsley and 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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,814 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fowl
- Gives the broth its body and flavour as it simmers down with the bones.
- Rice
- Softens as it cooks and thickens the soup, giving it body.
- Eggs
- Thicken the soup gently when stirred in and heated, adding richness.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and softness, mellowing the broth's flavour.
The step that matters
Adding the egg and milk mixture. Eggs can scramble if the broth is boiling hard when they go in. Stirring in the hot milk-egg mixture gently, then bringing the soup to a boil, helps the eggs thicken the broth smoothly.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, chicken, rice, egg, milk):
- Garlicfits better
- Turmericfits better
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, chicken, rice, egg, milk. 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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