Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Rice Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Put rice and cinnamon into water.
Cover and simmer gently until rice is tender.
Remove cinnamon and sweeten to taste.
Grate nutmeg into the soup and let it cool.
Finish the soup
Beat egg yolks with white wine and mix well.
Stir egg mixture into the rice over low heat, stirring constantly to prevent curdling.
When thickened and boiling, remove from heat and stir until serving.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Rice + nutmegtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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
- Rice
- Gives the soup its body and bulk as it cooks tender.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the soup as they set gently with heat.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and brightness that balances the sweetness and richness.
- Nutmeg
- Adds warm aroma to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Stirring the egg mixture into the rice. Egg yolks curdle if they get too hot too fast. Keeping the heat low and stirring constantly lets the yolks thicken the soup smoothly instead of scrambling into 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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