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Soup

Cream of Rice

A creamy soup made with rice, chicken stock, onions, celery, parsley, milk, butter, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cream of Rice

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the rice

  1. In a pot, combine chicken stock, chopped onions, celery, parsley, and rice.

  2. Cook until the rice is tender.

  3. Rinse the mixture through a colander.

Finish and season

  1. Return the strained mixture to the pot and add hot milk.

  2. Thicken with butter and flour, then season with salt and pepper.

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. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice
Breaks down as it cooks, releasing starch that gives the soup body and a smooth texture.
Hot milk
Adds creaminess, richness and a mild sweetness that softens the savory broth.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich mouthfeel and carries flavor through the thickened mixture.
Flour
Starch that thickens the liquid into a creamy consistency when heated.
Chicken stock
Provides the savory liquid base that carries the flavor of the whole dish.

The step that matters

Thicken with butter and flour. Flour must be fully mixed in and heated so its starch swells and thickens evenly. Otherwise it forms lumps and leaves a raw, floury taste.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, celery, rice, milk, butter, flour):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Garlicfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, celery, rice, milk, butter, flour. 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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