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A Lunch Dish

A baked rice and mushroom casserole topped with cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

A Lunch Dish

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.

Prepare

  1. If using fresh mushrooms, boil them for 10 minutes, then drain and chop.

  2. Boil the rice until tender.

Mix and season

  1. In a large bowl, combine the rice, chopped mushrooms, butter, and stock, stirring well.

  2. Season with paprika and coarse sea salt.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a large baking dish or individual scalloped dishes.

  2. Sprinkle a thick layer of grated cheese on top.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until the cheese is browned.

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. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Rice + mushroomtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,515 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Mushroom + cheesetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Rice + cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together942 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the bulk of the casserole and absorbs stock, giving it a tender, starchy body.
Mushrooms
Add savory, earthy flavor and moisture to the rice mixture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, savory mouthfeel.
Stock
Supplies liquid that the rice absorbs while seasoning the whole dish.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Boiling the fresh mushrooms. Fresh mushrooms hold a lot of water, and boiling them before chopping and mixing releases that liquid, so the casserole does not turn soggy.

“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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