Why it works: Rice and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,366 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Rice-water
Ingredients
Directions
Boil 7 pints of water.
Add 2 ounces of washed rice, 2 ounces of sugar, and the peel of 2/3 lemon.
Boil gently for 45 minutes until the liquid reduces to 5 pints.
Strain through a colander to prepare the rice-water.
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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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Releases starch into the water, giving the finished liquid a light body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the plain, starchy liquid.
- Lemon peel
- Adds aroma from its fragrant oils as the water simmers.
The step that matters
Boil gently for 45 minutes. A gentle simmer reduces the liquid evenly and slowly. A hard boil evaporates water faster, can scorch the rice and sugar on the bottom, and can make the flavour harsh.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, sugar. 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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