Name: Rice Soup.
Ingredients: Rice; Chicken; Leg of Lamb; Loin; Spinach

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 ↓

Rice Soup.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rice according to package instructions.
In a pot, boil the chicken until cooked through.
Remove the chicken and set aside.
In the same pot, add the leg of lamb and loin, and cook until tender.
Add the spinach and cook until wilted.
Serve the soup with pieces of chicken on top.

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.

Rice + chickentop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Chicken + lambtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together626 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Rice + spinachtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together518 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Rice + lambtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together439 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Lamb + spinachtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together300 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).