Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Minced Fowls on Toast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gravy
Remove all the meat from the bones of either cold roast or boiled fowls. Clean it from the skin, and keep covered from the air until ready for use.
Boil the bones and skin with three-fourths of a pint of water until reduced quite half.
Strain the gravy and let it cool.
Having skimmed off the fat, put the gravy into a clean saucepan with half a cup of cream, three tablespoonfuls of butter, and a tablespoonful of flour, well mixed.
Keep the mixture stirred until it boils.
Finish and serve
Add the finely minced fowl, the chopped hard-boiled eggs, and sufficient salt and pepper to season, and shake the mince over the fire until just ready to serve.
Dish the mixture over hot toast and serve.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| 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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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
- Fowl (in the method)
- Provides the cooked meat that forms the body of the minced dish.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that gives the sauce a smooth, rounded texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the gravy so the mince becomes a cohesive, spoonable sauce.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, softening the sauce's flavour and texture.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add body and a soft, mild richness to the minced mixture.
The step that matters
Keep the mixture stirred until it boils. Flour thickens only as it heats, and sitting still on the base can scorch it. Constant stirring keeps the starch dispersed so the sauce thickens evenly without lumps or burnt flavour.
“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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