Why it works: Rice and mushroom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,515 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Modern Cookery
Ingredients
Directions
Strain the liquor into a large clean saucepan.
Add rice flour or arrowroot, pepper, salt, and mushroom ketchup.
Heat the mixture until very hot.
Add the sliced meat and serve immediately.
Optionally, omit thickening and stir in strained vegetables before adding the meat.
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 + mushroomtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,515 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Meat + ricetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Meat + mushroomtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,423 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice flour or arrowroot
- Thickens the broth into a smooth, glossy sauce as it heats.
- Mushroom ketchup
- Adds deep savoury, umami flavour to the broth.
- Meat
- Forms the main substance of the dish, served in the thickened broth.
The step that matters
Heat the mixture until very hot. Starch thickeners such as rice flour or arrowroot must reach a hot temperature to swell and thicken the liquid. If the broth stays lukewarm, it stays thin and grainy. Once thickened, the broth should be served promptly, since it can thin again as it cools.
“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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