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Rice with Tomatos

A baked rice dish topped with a tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Rice with Tomatos

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Cook the rice

  1. Boil the rice in water until soft, shaking occasionally but not stirring.

  2. Drain the rice and mix in milk, beaten egg, butter, pepper, and salt.

  3. Simmer for 5 minutes.

  4. If milk remains, drain again.

  5. Shape the rice into a wall on a dish.

  6. Brush the rice wall with egg yolk.

  7. Bake in the oven at 400°F (200°C) until firm.

Make the tomato filling

  1. In a saucepan, combine tomato conserve, pepper, salt, sugar, and onion.

  2. Stew the tomato mixture for 20 minutes.

  3. Stir in butter and bread crumbs.

  4. Cook the mixture for 3-4 minutes to thicken.

Assemble and serve

  1. Pour the tomato mixture into the center of the rice.

  2. Serve.

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.

  1. Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the soft, cohesive base that is shaped into the wall and holds its form when baked.
Egg
Binds the rice mixture and, brushed on as yolk, helps the wall brown and set in the oven.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the rice so it stays tender rather than dry.
Tomato conserve
Provides the main body, acidity and flavour of the filling.
Bread crumbs
Thicken the tomato filling as it cooks, giving it body.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing flavour and a smoother texture.

The step that matters

Shape and bake the rice wall until firm. Rice must be cooked soft but drained well, since excess liquid makes the wall slump. Baking at 400°F sets the egg and firms the surface so the wall holds its shape around the filling.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, egg, butter, pepper, tomato, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, egg, butter, pepper, tomato, sugar. 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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