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Chicken with Rice

A fried chicken dish simmered with onion, green pepper, water, and cooked rice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Chicken with Rice

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean the chicken.

  2. Cut the chicken into pieces as for frying.

  3. Roll the chicken pieces in seasoned flour or meal.

Cook

  1. Heat a small amount of fat in a frying pan.

  2. Add the sliced onion and chopped green pepper.

  3. Cook until tender.

  4. Brown the chicken quickly in the seasoned fat.

  5. Add 2 cups of hot water and the cooked rice to the pan.

  6. Cover the pan closely.

  7. Cook slowly until the chicken is tender, adding more water if necessary.

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. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main protein and, as it simmers, releases flavour into the pan liquid.
Seasoned flour or meal
Forms a coating that browns in the fat and helps seal in juices.
Onion
Softens as it cooks, adding sweetness and aroma to the dish.
Green pepper
Softens as it cooks, adding a mild, fresh vegetable flavour.
Cooked rice
Absorbs the cooking liquid and softens, becoming part of the finished dish.

The step that matters

Brown the chicken quickly in the seasoned fat. Browning creates colour and flavour through the Maillard reaction on the floured surface. Searing too slowly or crowding the pan steams the pieces instead, leaving them pale and less flavourful.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, flour, pepper, rice):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Okrafits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, flour, pepper, rice. 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.

More chicken and rice recipes

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