Why it works: Flour and butter 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 ↓
Fricassee Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the chicken
Cut up two young chickens.
Put them in a stewpan with just enough cold water to cover them.
Cover closely and let them heat very slowly.
Stew them for an hour, or until tender.
If they are old chickens, boil them slowly for three to four hours.
Make the gravy
When tender, season with salt and pepper, a piece of butter as large as an egg, and a little celery if liked.
Stir up two tablespoonfuls of flour in a little water or milk.
Add the flour mixture to the stew, also add two well-beaten yolks of eggs.
Let all boil up one minute.
Add the egg to a little of the cooled gravy before putting with the hot gravy.
Serve
Arrange the chicken on a warm platter, pour some of the gravy over it and send the rest to the table in a boat.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Chicken | 100g cooked | 165 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| 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.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + chickentop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Thickens the gravy as it cooks, giving it body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded flavour to the gravy.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and further thicken the gravy when gently heated.
- Chickens
- Provide the main meat, which becomes tender through slow stewing.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if they meet very hot liquid directly. Tempering them with a little cooled gravy first, then adding them to the hot gravy, keeps the sauce smooth and creamy.
“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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