Why it works: Rice and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,379 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
A Baked Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Combine the sliced meat, soaked rice, water, pepper, and salt in an earthen pot or jug.
Cover it tightly and place it in the oven.
Bake until the ingredients are well combined and heated through.
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 + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Meat + ricetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Meat
- Adds savory flavor and body to the broth as it cooks slowly.
- Rice
- Releases starch as it cooks, thickening the liquid and giving the soup body.
The step that matters
Cover it tightly before baking. A tight seal traps steam so the liquid cannot evaporate away. This keeps the soup at its intended volume and lets the meat and rice cook gently and evenly.
“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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