Name: Rice and Cod-liver
Ingredients: ½ lb rice; 2 quarts water; 1 lb cod-liver; coarse sea salt; black pepper

Why it works: Rice and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,379 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Rice and Cod-liver

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cook the rice

Boil the rice in 2 quarts of water.
When nearly done, remove ¾ of the water.
Cut the cod liver into large dice.

Bake and serve

Add the diced cod liver over the rice.
Place the saucepan in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for about 30 minutes.
Remove the liver.
Stir the rice with a fork.
Season the rice with salt and pepper.
Serve it with anchovy sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,379 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,375 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Rice + livertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together123 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

Rice: Starch that softens and absorbs liquid, giving the dish its body and texture.
Cod liver: Rich fat that melts into the rice, adding savory flavor and moisture.

The step that matters

Removing ¾ of the water when the rice is nearly done. Draining off most of the cooking water leaves the rice only enough liquid to finish in the oven. Too much water left behind makes the rice soggy and loose, while starch that is cooked gently holds its shape and texture.

“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.