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Rice Stuffing for Sucking Pig

Rice and split peas seasoned with pepper, salt, and minced ham.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and peas are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,434 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Rice Stuffing for Sucking Pig

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the rice until tender, then drain and dry it completely.

  2. Boil the split peas until soft, then drain and dry them.

Combine

  1. Mix the rice and split peas together.

  2. Season with pepper, salt, and minced ham.

  3. Beat the mixture well until combined.

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.

  1. Rice + peastop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,434 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Rice + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together477 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Peas + hamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together402 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice
Provides the bulk and the light, separate grains that give the stuffing its body.
Split peas
Soften into a starchy, thicker texture that helps hold the stuffing together.
Ham
Adds savory, salty flavor throughout the stuffing.

The step that matters

Drying the rice and split peas completely. Surface water left on cooked grains and peas dilutes the seasoning and turns the stuffing soggy and dense. Dry starches combine more evenly with the seasoning and ham.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, pepper, ham):

  1. Black-eyed peafits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Lentilsfits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, pepper, ham. 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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