Name: Rice Soup
Ingredients: 1 knuckle of beef with the bone cracked in the center; plenty of water; ½ cup rice or vermicelli; coarse sea salt to taste; a dash of cayenne pepper; ⅓ cup native or port wine (optional)

Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Rice Soup

Ingredients

1 knuckle of beef with the bone cracked in the center
plenty of water
½ cup rice or vermicelli
coarse sea salt to taste
a dash of cayenne pepper
⅓ cup native or port wine (optional)

Directions

Place the knuckle of beef in a kettle with plenty of water and boil overnight on the back of the stove.
Remove the meat once it is soft.
Add the rice or vermicelli, salt, and cayenne to the kettle.
If desired, add the wine and stir well.

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.

Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + ricetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,265 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,379 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Beef + port winetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together626 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Pepper + port winetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,804 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef knuckle: Provides the bone and connective tissue that release flavour and body into the broth during long simmering.
Rice or vermicelli: Absorbs liquid and swells, adding body and thickening the soup as it cooks.
Native or port wine: Adds acidity and sweetness that round out the broth's flavour.

“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.