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Risotto

A creamy rice dish cooked with butter, broth, and optional meat or fish, finished with salt and Parmesan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and chicken 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 ↓

Risotto

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the rice and brown it lightly, stirring frequently.

  3. Pour in the broth and bring to a simmer.

  4. Cook until the rice is tender and has absorbed the liquid, about 18‑20 minutes.

  5. Stir in the bits of chicken, meat, or fish if using.

  6. Season with salt and serve, optionally topped with Parmesan cheese.

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. Rice + chickentop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

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

  2. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Rice + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together879 recipes

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

  4. Chicken + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,846 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Butter + chickentop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice
Starch that softens and absorbs the broth, giving risotto its creamy, thick body.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the rice toast lightly in the pan.
Broth
Liquid that the rice absorbs as it cooks, supplying flavour and moisture.

The step that matters

Cook until the rice is tender and has absorbed the liquid. Rice needs time to soften fully and release starch; stopping early leaves it firm, while overcooking makes it mushy.

“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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