Why it works: Bamboo shoots and broccoli share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 21 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓
The recipe
6 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Bring a pan of water to a boil, add the frozen broccoli, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well.
Drain the mushrooms, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and baby corn. Slice the water chestnuts.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, whisk the condensed cream of mushroom soup and heavy cream until smooth and warm, about 3 minutes.
Stir in the mushrooms, cubed cooked chicken, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and baby corn.
Simmer gently over medium-low heat, stirring often, for 10 minutes, until the chicken reaches 165°F (74°C) and everything is hot.
Stir in the drained broccoli and heat for 2 minutes more. Serve hot.
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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Bamboo shoots + broccolitop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together21 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Water chestnut + bamboo shootstop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together61 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Mushroom + chickentop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,171 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
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Water chestnut + broccolitop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together46 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Chicken + corntop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,666 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the water chestnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, mushroom, chicken, meat, bamboo shoots, corn, broccoli):
- Coconutabout as good a flavor fit
- Water chestnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, mushroom, chicken, meat, bamboo shoots, corn, broccoli. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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