Name: Alsatian Chicken Fricassée
Ingredients: 2 kg (4 lbs ) chicken pieces; 250 g (8 oz ) mushrooms , coarsely chopped; 125 g (4 oz) bacon , coarsely chopped; 10 onions , peeled and minced; 3 cloves garlic , peeled and minced; 45 g (1½ oz) butter; 1 bottle red wine; 3 sprigs parsley; 1 sprig thyme; 2 bay leaves; 2 tbsp flour; 1 tsp olive oil; Chopped parsley, for garnish

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Mushroom + garlictop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,700 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,768 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken pieces: Provide the main protein, which becomes tender during the long, moist braise.
Red wine: Adds acidity and depth of flavour while helping to tenderise the meat during cooking.
Flour: Thickens the cooking liquid into a light sauce that coats the chicken.
Bacon: Renders fat into the casserole, adding savoury, smoky flavour to the base.
Onions: Soften and sweeten as they cook, forming the flavour base of the sauce.
Mushrooms: Release moisture and savoury flavour into the sauce as they cook.

The step that matters

Adding the flour mixture near the end. Flour thickens liquid only when it is evenly dispersed; mixing it with oil first and stirring well prevents lumps and lets the sauce thicken smoothly around the chicken.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, mushroom, onion, garlic, butter, red wine, parsley):

Thymefits better
Rosemaryfits better
Marjoramfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, mushroom, onion, garlic, butter, red wine, parsley. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1

Alsatian Chicken Fricassée