Why it works: Rice and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,611 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Modern Cookery
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the thickening
Sift the rice flour through a fine sieve and blend it with salt and spices.
Gradually add liquid to achieve a smooth batter consistency.
Heat the mixture with the back of a spoon until lumps disappear.
Finish the soup
Stir the thickening into boiling soup and simmer for 10 minutes.
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 + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + winetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,223 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Flour + winetop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,435 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice flour
- Thickens the soup as its starch swells when mixed with liquid and heated.
The step that matters
Heat the batter until lumps disappear. Rice flour clumps easily when added to liquid. Blending it smooth first and heating it gently lets the starch hydrate evenly, so it thickens the soup without lumps.
“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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