Why it works: Rice and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,396 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Boiled Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the giblets in a little salted water until tender.
Chop the giblets finely.
Strain the rice from the soup and mix the chopped giblets into the rice.
Serve the rice on a meat dish, placing the chicken on top.
Pour a few spoonfuls of egg sauce over the chicken before serving.
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.
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Rice + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,396 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Rice + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,350 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + saucetop 39% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,895 recipes
Egg and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,895 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
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