Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Chicken a LA Duxelle
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Use a chicken weighing three pounds with two cups of stock or water, two tablespoonfuls butter, two tablespoonfuls flour, one teaspoonful chopped parsley, a few drops of onion juice, one teaspoonful lemon juice, one teaspoonful salt, pepper, and crumbs.
Cut the chicken as for fricassee, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Make the sauce
Melt the butter, add the flour and seasonings, gradually add the stock while stirring all the time.
Coat and bake
Dip the chicken in the sauce, then roll in fine crumbs and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken in a baking pan.
Cook for thirty minutes in a hot oven.
Serve
Serve with Bechamel, mushroom, or poulette sauce, garnished with thin pieces of toast cut in fancy shapes.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Parsley | 1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g) | 1 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 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.
-
Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Chicken (in the method)
- Provides the main protein that is cooked through during baking.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps form the roux that thickens the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock into a sauce when cooked with the butter.
- Stock
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce that coats the chicken.
- Crumbs (in the method)
- Forms a crisp outer coating that browns in the hot oven.
The step that matters
Coat the chicken in sauce before crumbs. The sauce must be thick enough to cling to the chicken; if it is thin, the crumbs will not adhere and may fall off during baking.
“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.
You might also like
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.