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Chicken and Rice

A stew of whole chicken, rice, and herbs simmered in stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Chicken and Rice

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Place the chicken and giblets in a stewpan and cover with water or stock.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Add the parsley, thyme, bay leaf, and onion with cloves.

  4. Stew gently, uncovered, for about 1.5 hours.

Cook the rice

  1. Wash the rice.

  2. Add the rice to the stock in a ratio of 1 part rice to 3 parts stock.

  3. Cook gently, covered, until most of the stock is absorbed.

  4. Add more stock.

  5. Add the butter.

  6. Stir to keep the rice grains separate.

  7. Cook until the rice is tender.

Serve

  1. Serve the chicken surrounded by the rice.

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.

  1. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main protein and flavours the stock as it stews.
Rice
Absorbs the stock and softens to form the bulk of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that gives the rice a smoother, more rounded flavour.
Onion
Adds savoury sweetness and aroma to the stock as it simmers.

The step that matters

Stir to keep the rice grains separate. Stirring releases surface starch from rice, which makes the grains cling together and turn gummy. Stirring at the right moment, rather than constantly, keeps the grains distinct.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, parsley, thyme, onion, rice, butter):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, parsley, thyme, onion, rice, butter. 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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