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 ↓
Curried Venison
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut up the venison into pieces.
In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, flour, onions, curry paste, sugar, apple, rice, and milk.
Place the mixture in a paper bag and seal it.
Cook
Cook in a moderate oven at 300°F (150°C) for 45 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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Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,065 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Apple + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Venison
- Forms the meat base, which becomes tender with slow, gentle cooking.
- Tomatoes
- Add moisture and acidity, helping build the body of the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid as it heats, giving the sauce body.
- Onions
- Soften and turn sweet as they cook, adding depth of flavor.
- Curry paste
- Supplies the spice blend and aroma that define the dish.
- Rice
- Its starch absorbs liquid and thickens the mixture as it cooks.
The step that matters
Cooking in a sealed paper bag at low heat. Gentle, slow heat breaks down the connective tissue in lean meat so it becomes tender instead of tough. Sealing the bag traps steam and moisture, so the mixture stays saucy rather than drying out.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, tomato, flour, onion, sugar, rice, milk):
- Avocadofits better
- Cherryfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, tomato, flour, onion, sugar, rice, milk. 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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