Why it works: Madeira wine and truffle work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 195 recipes mention both. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare and truss the chickens for serving. Skewer them properly.
Line a casserole with a buttered mirepoix.
Cover the mirepoix with fresh bacon slices.
Braise
Place the chickens on top and add consommé until it reaches the thighs.
Add Madeira wine and cover the casserole with a lid topped with red coals.
Cook until the chickens are beautifully glazed.
Finish and serve
Drain before serving, degrease, and reduce the sauce.
Stir in 4 tablespoons of truffle sauce and serve.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Madeira wine + truffletop 5% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together195 recipes
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Chicken + truffletop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together756 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Truffle + saucetop 11% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together1,490 recipes
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Madeira wine + saucetop 11% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together230 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Chicken + saucetop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together4,512 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chickens
- Provide the main meat, which becomes tender through slow braising in liquid.
- Fresh bacon
- Adds fat and savoury flavour that enriches the braising liquid and sauce.
- Consommé
- Forms the braising liquid that keeps the chickens moist and builds the sauce.
- Madeira wine
- Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the braising liquid as it reduces.
- Truffle sauce
- Contributes concentrated earthy aroma and richness to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Reduce the sauce after degreasing. Skimming off fat first keeps the sauce clean and light. Reducing it afterward concentrates flavour and gives it body before the truffle sauce is stirred in.
“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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