Why it works: Rice and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,379 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Kedgeree, a Very Nice Breakfast or Luncheon Dish.
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil the eggs for 10 minutes and the rice for 15 minutes; drain the rice completely.
Chop the eggs into irregular pieces and remove the skin and bones from the fish.
Make the kedgeree
Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the chopped eggs, fish, and rice.
Stir the mixture over low heat until hot, being careful not to burn it.
Just before serving, add the curry powder, pepper, and salt.
Serve
Pile the mixture high in the center of a hot dish, garnish with fresh parsley, and serve hot.
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 + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Fish + ricetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together270 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold boiled fish
- Forms the main body of the dish and gives it its substance and flavour.
- Rice
- Provides the bulk and soft, fluffy texture that the other ingredients are mixed into.
- Eggs
- Add richness and a soft, crumbly texture when chopped through the warm mixture.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, coating the rice and fish and carrying the spice flavours.
- Curry powder
- Adds aroma and warm spiced flavour to the mixture.
The step that matters
Stir over low heat until hot. Rice and fish can scorch on the bottom of the pan when heated too fast. Gentle, even heat warms the mixture through without burning it, and the butter helps keep the grains separate and moist.
“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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