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Pilau a LA Greccque

A Greek-style rice dish cooked with butter, stock, herbs, and diced game or poultry, finished with saffron, parsley, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Saffron and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pilau a LA Greccque

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the rice

  1. Rinse the rice in cold water.

  2. Place the rinsed rice in a stew pan with warm butter and light stock.

  3. Add a bunch of herbs on top of the rice mixture.

  4. Cover the pan with buttered paper.

  5. Simmer gently for about 1 hour, adding more stock if needed.

Make the ragout

  1. Fry the diced onions, butter, and bacon together until golden.

  2. Mix in flour, add stock, and simmer until the ragout is tender.

  3. Season the diced game or poultry with salt, Parmesan cheese, and pepper.

  4. Add the seasoned game or poultry to the ragout and bring to a boil before serving.

Plate and serve

  1. Turn out some rice to form a border on a serving dish.

  2. Place the ragout in the center of the dish.

  3. Pour a tomato puree around the edge of the dish.

  4. Sprinkle saffron shreds, raw chopped parsley, and thin slices of raw lemon around the border.

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. Saffron + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Rice + saffrontop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Pepper + saffrontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together781 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Patna rice
Forms the pilaf base, absorbing stock and butter to become tender and fluffy.
Onions
Soften and turn golden, adding sweetness and savory depth to the ragout.
Bacon
Renders fat and flavor into the onions, adding savory, smoky richness.
Flour
Thickens the stock into a smooth sauce that coats the ragout.
Parmesan cheese
Adds salty, savory umami flavor to the seasoned game or poultry.
Game or poultry
Provides the main protein, becoming tender in the simmering ragout.

The step that matters

Simmer the rice gently with the lid covered. Rice cooks by absorbing liquid in a closed pan; too much heat can scorch the bottom or leave grains unevenly cooked, so gentle simmering keeps them tender and separate.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, butter, parmesan cheese, pepper, flour, saffron, parsley):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, butter, parmesan cheese, pepper, flour, saffron, parsley. 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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