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Tomato Pilaff

A tomato-based pilaf cooked with onion, stock, rice, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,065 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Tomato Pilaff

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pot, cook together the tomato, onion, stock or gravy, salt, and pepper until boiling.

  2. Add the rice and toss lightly until the liquid is absorbed.

  3. Melt the butter and pour it over the rice.

  4. Cover and set on the back of the stove to steam for about 20 minutes.

  5. Remove the cover, shake the pot to separate the rice kernels, and cover with a towel until ready to serve.

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. Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the body of the dish as its starches absorb liquid and soften during steaming.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel, coating the rice grains so they separate more easily.
Stewed tomato
Provides acidity, color, and tomato flavor that the rice absorbs as it cooks.
Stock or gravy
Supplies the cooking liquid that the rice absorbs, adding savory depth.

The step that matters

Toss the rice until the liquid is absorbed. Rice must absorb the liquid before steaming; if liquid remains, the grains turn soggy, and if it is fully absorbed too early, the rice may scorch or cook unevenly.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, rice, butter. 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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