Why it works: Rice and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,433 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Curried Tripe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tripe
Blanch the tripe by boiling it in cold water, then remove it immediately.
Cut the tripe into small pieces.
Place the tripe pieces in a saucepan and cover with cold water.
Peel the onion and cut it partially through, then add it to the saucepan.
Simmer
Bring the saucepan to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 2.5 hours.
Check the tripe with a fork; it should be very tender when done.
Remove the saucepan from heat and place it on a paper on the table.
Use a fork to take the tripe out and place it on a dish.
Make the curry sauce
In a small saucepan, mix 1 oz flour, 2 teaspoons curry powder, and ½ oz dripping with a wooden spoon.
Add enough cold water to make a stiff paste.
Pour in ½ pint of the tripe cooking liquid.
Heat the saucepan and stir until the mixture boils and thickens, avoiding lumps.
Stir in ¼ teaspoon brown sugar and salt 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.
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 + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together32,460 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tripe
- Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender through long, gentle simmering.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth sauce when heated with fat and liquid.
- Curry powder
- Provides the spiced aroma and flavour that defines the sauce.
- Dripping
- Carries the curry spices and adds richness to the sauce.
- Onion
- Flavours the cooking liquid as it simmers with the tripe.
The step that matters
Making the paste without lumps. Flour must be mixed smoothly with fat and cold water before adding hot liquid; otherwise starch clumps and the sauce will not thicken evenly. Stirring while it boils lets the starch swell and thicken fully.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, flour, sugar):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Okrafits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, flour, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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