Name: Chicken Soup
Ingredients: 1 whole chicken, dressed and cut into small pieces; nearly full pot of water; 1 large tomato, chopped; ¼ pod of red pepper, finely chopped; 1 large onion, chopped; ½ cup of rice; coarse sea salt to taste; butter (optional, if chicken is not fatty)

Why it works: Chicken and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Chicken Soup

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, dressed and cut into small pieces
nearly full pot of water
1 large tomato, chopped
¼ pod of red pepper, finely chopped
1 large onion, chopped
½ cup of rice
coarse sea salt to taste
butter (optional, if chicken is not fatty)

Directions

Place the chicken pieces in a stew pan nearly full of water.
Add the chopped tomato, red pepper, onion, and rice.
Season with coarse sea salt to taste.
If the chicken is not fatty, add a bit of butter.
Simmer until the chicken is cooked through and flavors meld.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,065 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Chicken + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,031 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

Chicken: Provides the main protein and rich flavor that the broth is built on.
Rice: Thickens the broth slightly as its starches release during simmering.
Onion: Adds savory sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as it cooks.
Tomato: Contributes acidity and body to the broth.

Swap the onion

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

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits better
Asparagusfits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, tomato, pepper, 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.