Why it works: Rice and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,399 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓
Rice Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Boil the rice in the stock.
Rub half of the rice through a fine sieve.
Put the stock in a stewpan, add all the rice, and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
Enrich and finish
Beat the yolks of the eggs and mix them with the previously boiled cream, then strain through a fine sieve.
Remove the soup from the heat, add the egg and cream mixture, stirring frequently.
Heat gradually while stirring, but do not let it boil to prevent curdling.
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 + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,399 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Rice + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,350 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Breaks down partly to thicken the stock and give the soup body.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the soup and thicken it gently as they heat, adding richness and smoothness.
- Cream
- Adds fat and richness, softening the texture and mellowing the flavour.
- Stock
- Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour of the soup.
The step that matters
Heat gradually without boiling after adding the egg and cream mixture. Egg yolks thicken when heated but curdle if they get too hot or boil. Adding them off the heat and warming slowly while stirring keeps the soup smooth.
“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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