Name: How We Cook in Tennessee
Ingredients: three teaspoons of melted butter; two teaspoons of white sugar; one tablespoon knox's gelatine; quarter cup cold chicken stock; three-quarters cup hot chicken stock; one cup heavy cream; one cup cold cooked chicken cut in dice; quarter pound baking powder tins; one-half teaspoons knox's gela- tine; two tablespoons cold water; one-half teaspoons sugar; quarter teaspoon pepper; one teaspoon mustard; quarter cup lemon juice; half cup hot cream; a cup of well washed rice to the chicken; 81 chopped celery; one teacup of pecan meats; four hard boiled eggs cut fine; two raw eggs; half teacup of vinegar; two eggs; one tea- spoon salt; one-half tablespoons 82; salt; pepper; mustard; vinegar

Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. 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.

Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mustard + ricetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together599 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine: Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable mould when chilled.
Heavy cream: Adds richness and a light, creamy texture when whipped in.
Chicken stock: Carries the gelatine and gives the mould its savoury base flavour.
Cooked chicken: Provides the main protein and bulk of the salad.

The step that matters

Beat the mixture while it is only beginning to thicken. Gelatine sets quickly as it cools. If the mixture is beaten when it is already too firm, it cannot aerate well, and if it is still too thin, the cream will not hold its air and the set will be uneven.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, chicken, cream, pepper, lemon, rice):

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits better
Asparagusfits better
Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, chicken, cream, pepper, lemon, rice. 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
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Pecan	1 half (4g)	20
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Meat	not in our table	0

How We Cook in Tennessee