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 ↓
Crkamkd Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Simmer the chickens until tender, salting a little.
Drain the chicken, and boil the liquor down to a pint.
Cut the meat when cold into dice shapes.
Drain a can of French mushrooms and cut them into quarters.
Make the sauce
Put a large tablespoonful of butter into a saucepan.
When the butter is melted, add 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of flour, stirring until smooth.
Add a cupful of broth and 2 pint of cream.
Boil until done; then add the chicken and mushrooms.
Season to taste.
Cook in a double boiler.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Chicken | 100g cooked | 165 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
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).
-
Chicken + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,241 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Chicken + flourtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,559 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Chicken and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,559 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
- Chickens
- Provide the tender meat that forms the main body of the dish.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and broth into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
- Cream
- Adds richness and body to the sauce, giving it a smooth texture.
- Butter (in the method)
- Provides fat for cooking the flour and adds richness to the sauce.
- French mushrooms (in the method)
- Add earthy flavor and a tender bite to the finished dish.
The step that matters
Stirring the flour into the butter until smooth. Flour added to melted butter must be stirred constantly so it cooks evenly and forms a smooth roux. Lumps left at this stage are hard to remove once liquid is added, and the sauce's thickening depends on it.
“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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