Why it works: Flour and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,481 recipes. Both carry acetaldehyde, which smells pungent, ethereal. The science ↓
Panned Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Roast the chicken
Prepare the chickens as for broiling. Place them in a pan, skin side up; rub with softened butter; dredge with flour, salt and pepper; put in a hot oven.
After ten minutes, baste with butter and a little hot water.
Cook for thirty minutes, baste three times, using not over a half cup of water, the rest butter.
Make the gravy
Remove to a hot dish and make a gravy from the fat in the pan.
Add to it one tablespoonful of flour.
When brown, add a cup of thin cream or white stocks.
Cook until smooth, stirring all the time; pour around the chicken.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| 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.
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Dusting on the chicken and thickening the gravy so it becomes smooth and cohesive.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds fat and richness for basting, helping the skin brown and the meat stay moist.
- Thin cream
- Adds richness and body to the gravy, mellowing its flavor and making it smooth.
The step that matters
Cook the flour until brown before adding the cream. Flour must be cooked in the fat until it browns, which removes its raw taste and builds color and flavor. Adding cream too early can leave the gravy pasty and floury, so stir constantly to keep it 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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