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Risotto

A tomato-based rice dish cooked with butter, cayenne pepper, and grated cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,065 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Risotto

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the rice

  1. Put the rice in a pot with cold water and bring to a boil.

  2. Boil for 8-10 minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water.

Make the risotto

  1. Melt butter in a saucepan, add the rice, and sauté gently for 2-3 minutes.

  2. Add tomato pulp, cayenne, and salt; simmer until rice is tender.

Serve

  1. Transfer to a hot dish.

  2. Sprinkle with grated cheese.

  3. Serve hot.

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. Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  4. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Tomato + cheesetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,896 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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 dish and gives it its tender, absorbent body.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and helps coat the rice grains as they are sautéed.
Tomato pulp
Provides moisture and acidity as it simmers with the rice.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and richness when sprinkled over the finished dish.

The step that matters

Simmer until rice is tender. The rice must absorb the liquid and soften fully without drying out or turning mushy. Simmering gently and checking texture keeps the grains tender with a moist consistency.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Tomatothe original
  4. Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, butter, pepper, cheese. 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.

More risotto recipes

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