Why it works: Chicken and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,389 recipes. Both carry 1-hexanal, which smells fruit. The science ↓
Chicken Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Cover the chicken with cold water and season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Cook until the chicken is tender, then remove it and strain the liquid.
Let the strained liquid stand overnight.
Finish and serve
In the morning, skim the fat and add 1 quart of stock and 1 pint of milk.
Beat 2 eggs and stir them in, then bring the mixture to a boil.
Serve immediately.
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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Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,389 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together26,984 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Chicken + eggtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,991 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Gives the broth its body and meaty flavour as it cooks.
- Milk
- Adds richness and a mellow, creamy body to the soup.
- Eggs
- Beaten in to thicken the soup slightly and add richness.
The step that matters
Stirring the beaten eggs into the hot mixture. Eggs set when heated, so they can curdle or turn grainy if they meet the hot liquid too fast. Stirring steadily while adding them helps keep the soup smooth.
“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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