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Carmelite Rice

A baked rice dish with haddock, eggs, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Carmelite Rice

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the rice

  1. Cook the rice in salted water until tender.

  2. Drain and let it dry.

Assemble and bake

  1. Add the flaked cured haddock, butter, herbs, pepper, and salt to the rice and mix thoroughly.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and top with the chopped hard-boiled eggs.

  3. Pour the fish stock over the dish and sprinkle breadcrumbs on top.

  4. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

  5. Garnish with parsley before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Rice + parsleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,762 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Meat + fishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together479 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the starchy base that holds the flaked fish and gives the dish its body.
Flaked cured haddock
Supplies the main savoury, salty flavour and tender flakes through the rice.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, coating the grains and carrying flavour.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add set, creamy texture and a mild richness to the baked dish.
Fish stock
Moistens the rice as it bakes, so the grains soften and do not dry out.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping through browning in the oven.

The step that matters

Drain and let the rice dry. Excess surface water left on cooked rice dilutes the flavour and makes the baked dish soggy. Letting it steam off helps the grains absorb the stock evenly and keeps the texture distinct.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, meat, haddock, butter, pepper, egg, fish):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Turmericfits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, meat, haddock, butter, pepper, egg, fish. 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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