Why it works: Rice and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,645 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Rice Border for Hot Savouries
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Wash and blanch the rice.
Cook the rice in white stock with butter, covered with buttered paper, over low heat.
Add more stock as needed until the rice absorbs it and is dry.
Remove the lid and paper towards the end to ensure the rice is not wet.
Shape the border
Once cooked, pound or sieve the rice, then mix in the egg yolks and seasoning.
Use a border mold to shape the mixture.
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 + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Rice + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,350 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Carolina rice
- Starch that softens as it cooks and, once pounded, binds into a smooth mixture that holds its shape.
- White stock
- Liquid that the rice absorbs as it cooks, giving it moisture and flavour.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour through the rice.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the cooked rice and help it set firm when the border is shaped.
The step that matters
Drying the rice before shaping. If the rice is still wet when it is pounded or sieved and mixed with yolks, the mixture will be loose and may not hold the border shape. Adding stock only until it is absorbed, and removing the lid near the end, lets excess moisture evaporate.
“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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