Why it works: Rice and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,065 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Turkish Pilaf
Ingredients
Directions
Boil well-washed rice in water for 30 minutes, stirring seldom with a fork.
Add melted butter and strained tomato juice.
Cook until the rice absorbs the water and is not watery, then serve.
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 + tomatotop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,065 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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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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Butter + tomatotop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Forms the body of the pilaf as its starch cooks and softens in the liquid.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for a richer flavour and a smoother mouthfeel in the cooked rice.
- Strained tomato juice
- Supplies the liquid that the rice absorbs, and adds tomato flavour and mild acidity.
The step that matters
Cook until the rice absorbs the water. Rice cooked in liquid absorbs water as its starch gelatinises and softens. If it is left too wet the grains turn sticky and soggy, and if it is cooked too long it can dry out and break apart. Stop when the grains are tender and no free liquid remains.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, butter):
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Leekfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against 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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