Why it works: Rice and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,433 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Curried Tripe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tripe
Parboil the tripe in cold salted water for a few minutes.
Drain the tripe.
Boil the tripe in fresh water for 15 minutes.
Add the rice to the water.
Boil until just tender.
Make the curry
In a saucepan, fry the sliced onions in butter until brown.
Add the tripe and enough hot water to cover it.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cook until the rice is done.
Stir in the curry powder and mix well.
Serve
Serve the tripe with the rice arranged around it.
If the tripe is not pickled, add vinegar 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 + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tripe
- Forms the main body of the dish, and its chewy texture is the centerpiece of the curry.
- Onions
- Browning in butter builds sweetness and a savory base for the sauce.
- Butter or drippings
- Fat for frying the onions, carrying flavor and helping them brown.
- Curry powder
- Provides the spiced aroma and color that define the dish.
- Rice
- Absorbs liquid as it cooks, turning into a starchy side served with the tripe.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity to brighten the flavor of unpickled tripe.
The step that matters
Boil the tripe until tender before adding the rice. Tripe is tough and needs long, gentle boiling after parboiling to become tender. Rushing this step leaves it chewy, and the rice cooks on a different timetable, so it is best checked separately.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, butter, pepper, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Cucumberfits about as well
- Mustardfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, butter, pepper, vinegar. 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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