Why it works: Rice and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Chicken Hash with Rice Toast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rice
Boil the rice the night before.
Place the boiled rice in a square, narrow bread pan and refrigerate.
Cut the rice into half‑inch slices.
Rub each slice with warm butter.
Toast and make the hash
Toast the rice slices on a broiler until they are a delicate brown.
Arrange the toasted rice on a warm platter.
Heat butter and a little water in a frying pan. Add the chopped chicken.
Season the chicken with pepper and coarse sea salt. Heat the seasoned chicken until hot throughout.
Serve
Pour the chicken hash over the rice toast.
Serve immediately.
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 + chickentop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,769 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + chickentop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Chilling the boiled rice firms it so slices hold their shape and toast crisply.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the rice slices brown evenly under the broiler.
- Leftover chicken
- Provides the savoury, tender filling for the hash.
The step that matters
Toast the rice slices on a broiler until a delicate brown. Broiler heat browns the surface quickly, so slices can scorch before the centre dries. Watching closely gives a crisp, golden exterior that holds up under the hash.
“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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