Why it works: Parsley and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 759 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Rice Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rice
Wash the rice with plenty of water and drain it.
Set the rice on the fire with 2 quarts of cold water and stir it occasionally.
When it boils, immerse it in cold water, then drain the rice dry.
Make the soup
Put the rice into a saucepan with 3 quarts of boiling broth.
Season to taste.
Add the faggot of parsley and leeks.
Cover half of the top of the saucepan.
Let it boil slowly until the rice is cooked.
Skim the soup.
Remove the faggot.
Serve
Serve, adding finely chopped parsley or chives.
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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Parsley + leektop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together759 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Rice + leektop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together161 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Rice + parsleytop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,762 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
- Rice
- Starch that swells and thickens the broth as it cooks, giving the soup body.
- Broth
- Forms the liquid base and carries the flavour of the whole soup.
- Leeks
- Add a mild onion-like aroma and sweetness to the broth.
- Parsley
- Bundled as a faggot, it perfumes the broth with a fresh, herbal aroma.
The step that matters
Drain the rice dry after the cold-water immersion. Rice that stays wet dilutes the broth and can turn gummy or cloudy, so draining it well keeps the soup clear and the grains distinct.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, leek):
- Turmericfits better
- Capersfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, leek. 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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