Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Chickex Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the chicken
Dress, clean, and cut up two fowl or chickens.
Put a kettle on the range with three pints of water.
As soon as the water reaches boiling point, add the chicken a few pieces at a time, otherwise the boiling will stop and the water will cool, drawing out flavor.
When all is added, cover and cook slowly until the meat is tender, adding one‑half tablespoonful of salt during the last half‑hour of cooking.
Remove the chicken and discard the skin and some of the larger bones.
Make the gravy
Strain the stock, skim off the fat, and then cook until reduced to four cupfuls.
Thicken the stock with one‑quarter cupful of butter mixed with one‑third cupful of flour.
Season with salt and pepper.
Assemble and bake
Arrange the chicken in a serving dish, strain over the gravy, let stand overnight, and reheat for serving.
Make a decorated cover of a rich pie crust.
Bake the paste separately and reheat the chicken before covering the pie.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Two fowl
- Provides the meat and the flavor that goes into the stock and the filling.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock together with the butter into a smooth gravy.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the gravy and helps it thicken with the flour.
The step that matters
Adding the chicken to boiling water. Adding too much chicken at once stops the water from boiling and it cools, which draws flavor out of the meat instead of into the stock. Adding it a few pieces at a time keeps the water at a boil.
“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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