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Chicken Mousse

A chilled chicken mousse made with stock, eggs, cream, gelatin, almonds, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Chicken Mousse

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Beat the egg yolks slightly, then add salt and paprika.

  2. Gradually pour in the heated chicken stock and cook over hot water until thickened.

  3. Soak the gelatine in cold water, then add it to the mixture when dissolved.

Add chicken and cream

  1. Strain and mix in the finely chopped, pounded chicken and almonds.

  2. Season with additional salt and cayenne to taste.

  3. Place the mixture in ice water and stir until it thickens.

  4. Fold in the beaten cream gently.

  5. Transfer to a mold and chill until set.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  3. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  4. Chicken + almondtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together838 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the base and add richness as they set when gently cooked.
Gelatine
Sets the mousse so it holds its shape when chilled.
Cooked chicken
Provides the main body and savory flavor of the mousse.
Heavy cream
Adds lightness and a smooth, airy texture when folded in.
Blanched almonds
Add body and a mild nutty flavor to the mixture.

The step that matters

Cook the egg yolk and stock mixture over hot water until thickened. Egg yolks thicken when heated gently, but overheating can curdle them into a grainy texture. Cooking slowly over hot water keeps the custard smooth before the gelatine and cream are added.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, sugar, cream):

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Peanutfits about as well
  3. Cashew nutfits about as well
  4. Chestnutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, sugar, cream. 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.

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