Why it works: Rice and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,137 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Rice Soup
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Cook the rice
In a pot, bring water to a boil.
Add rice and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.
Cook the pork
In a separate pot, boil the leg of pork until fully cooked.
Season with coarse sea salt.
Serve
Serve the rice soup with the boiled leg of pork and greens.
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 + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Its starch thickens the cooking water and gives the soup body.
- Leg of pork
- Supplies savoury meat flavour and richness to the soup.
The step that matters
Boil the leg of pork until fully cooked. Pork must be cooked through to be safe to eat. Heat needs to reach the centre of the thickest part of the meat, so check that it is no longer pink and is tender before serving.
“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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