Name: Mushroom Rice Pilaf
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: 2 Tbs olive oil; 2 Tbs butter; 1/4 cup onions, brunoise dice; 56g mushrooms, wiped clean and thinly sliced; 1 cup rice; 2 cups chicken stock, or if a very gelatinous stock, use 1 cup each stock and water; 1 1/2 tsp salt; 1/3 cup sliced almonds, sauteed in 2 Tbs butter; 2 TBS parsley, washed, dried and finely chopped; Salt and pepper to taste

Why it works: Mushroom and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

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.

Mushroom + chickentop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Rice + chickentop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Olive + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,649 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Rice + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,456 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Swap the almond

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

Sesamefits better
Beansfits better
Chickpeafits better
Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, butter, onion, mushroom, rice, chicken, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Mushroom Rice Pilaf