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 in cold water and drain it.
Place the rice in a pot with 2 quarts of cold water and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
Once boiling, immerse the rice in cold water and drain it again.
Make the soup
In a saucepan, combine the rice with 3 quarts of boiling broth.
Season to taste and add the faggot of parsley and leeks.
Cover half of the saucepan and let it boil slowly until the rice is cooked.
Skim off any foam, remove the faggot, and serve the soup.
Garnish
Garnish with 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
- Provides the body of the soup as its starch softens and thickens the broth.
- Broth
- Forms the flavour base and liquid in which the rice cooks.
- Leeks
- Add a mild onion-like sweetness and aroma to the broth.
The step that matters
Parboiling and rinsing the rice. Boiling the rice first and then rinsing it in cold water removes surface starch and impurities, keeping the broth clear and the grains from clumping.
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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