Why it works: Rice and sherry work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 572 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓
Rice Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick over and wash the rice.
Put the rice into a granite saucepan with boiling water.
Simmer and strain
Simmer for 2 hours until the rice is softened and partially dissolved.
Strain the mixture and add the salt.
Serve
Serve warm or cold.
Add sherry or port if desired.
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.
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Rice + sherrytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together572 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Releases starch and partly dissolves during long simmering, giving the water body and softening the grains.
The step that matters
Simmering for 2 hours. The long, gentle simmer is what softens the rice and draws out its starch. Stopping early leaves the grains firm and the liquid thin, while a hard boil can scorch the rice on the bottom of the pan.
“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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