Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Rice Favourites
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare rice as for curry.
Mix in enough rich white sauce to make the rice moist, similar to ordinary bread sauce.
Grease small china vases and layer strips of hot boiled ham seasoned with French mustard, cayenne, and chutney.
Fill the vases with the rice, ensuring it stands above the edge.
Pour a teaspoon of sauce made from equal parts cream and tomato pulp over the rice, coloring it pale pink with cochineal.
Add a ring of shredded cooked white vegetable moistened with cream between the sauce and ham.
Dust with coralline pepper and top with tiny sprigs of fried parsley.
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.
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,065 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Mustard + parsleytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,588 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,398 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, sauce, ham, mustard, pepper, cream, parsley):
- Shallotfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, sauce, ham, mustard, pepper, cream, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes
Rice Fritters84 recipes
Tomato Bisque61 recipes