Why it works: Rice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,137 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Rice Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rice
Wash the rice well in two or three waters.
Cook and strain
Bring 1 quart of warm water to a boil in a stewpan.
Add the rice and cinnamon stick to the boiling water.
Boil for one hour until the rice becomes a pulp.
Remove from heat and strain the rice water into a basin, sweetening to taste.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Carolina rice
- Its starch releases into the water during long boiling, thickening the liquid and giving it body.
- Warm water
- Acts as the cooking liquid that softens the rice and carries its starch into the drink.
- Cinnamon
- Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the water as it simmers with the rice.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness, balancing the mild, starchy flavour of the strained rice water.
The step that matters
Boil until the rice becomes a pulp. Rice must break down fully so its starch leaches into the water. If it is under-cooked, the liquid stays thin and grainy, and the starch that gives the drink its body is not released.
“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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