Why it works: Rice and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,065 recipes mention both. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Rice and Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rice
Wash the rice well in cold water.
Swell the rice in 1 pint of water over low heat.
Make the soup
Add 1 oz of butter and salt to taste.
Boil for twenty minutes.
Skin and chop the tomatoes, then boil for 1-2 minutes.
Press the tomatoes through a sieve.
Add the sieved tomatoes to the rice mixture.
Add additional water or stock as needed.
Finish and serve
If using water, stir in 1 oz of butter before serving.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,065 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + tomatotop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Thickens the soup as its starch softens and swells during simmering.
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main flavour, acidity and body once pressed into the soup.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Swell the rice over low heat. Gentle heat lets the rice grains absorb water and soften evenly. High heat can scorch the bottom of the pan or leave the grains unevenly cooked.
“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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