Why it works: Rice and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,645 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Boiled Rice
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Pick over and wash the rice in several waters.
Soak the rice for several hours.
Bake in a bag
Grease a paper bag and add the soaked rice and water.
Fold and fasten the end of the bag.
Place the bag on a grid shelf and cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 25 minutes.
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 + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Its starch absorbs water and swells as it cooks, becoming tender and fluffy.
- Water
- Hydrates the starch so the grains cook through, and turns to steam that softens the rice in the sealed bag.
The step that matters
Fold and fasten the end of the bag. A tight seal keeps steam inside, so the rice cooks in its own moisture. A loose bag lets steam escape, leaving the grains dry and unevenly cooked.
“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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