Name: Chicken or Cracker Panada
Ingredients: 1 chicken; 1 quart water; salt to taste; a pinch of nutmeg; 2 crackers (optional); 1 beaten egg (optional); 1 part wine (optional); 3 parts water (optional); grated bread or cracker (optional)

Why it works: Egg and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Chicken or Cracker Panada

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

Boil the chicken in 1 quart of water for 30 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the water and let it cool.
Once cool, remove the skin and pound the white meat to a paste in a mortar with a little of the cooking water.

Make the broth

Add salt and nutmeg, then more water to achieve a thick drink consistency. Boil for 3-4 minutes.
Alternatively, pour boiling water over 2 crackers and let them simmer for 5 minutes. Sweeten and flavor a beaten egg to taste, then add it to the crackers.
For a wine version, boil 1 part wine with 3 parts water, flavor to taste, and stir in grated bread or cracker, then give it one boil.

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.

Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Nutmeg + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,997 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,258 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together24,744 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Chicken + winetop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,496 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

Nutmeg and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken: Its white meat is pounded to a paste that gives the broth body and a thick drink consistency.
Crackers: Starch from the crackers thickens the liquid and gives the cracker version its body.
Egg: Beaten egg enriches the cracker version and adds richness and a softer texture.