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English Chicken Pie

A cold chicken pie of simmered chicken, bacon, hard-boiled eggs and truffles, set in stock jelly under a puff paste crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

English Chicken Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Cut two tender chickens up as for frying.

  2. Put them into a large saucepan with two and a half quarts of water.

  3. Add a bouquet made of sweet marjoram, basil, parsley, three bay-leaves, sprig of thyme, and small blade of mace.

  4. Simmer until the chicken is well cooked.

  5. When the chicken is about half done, add one half pound of bacon cut into small pieces like lardoons. Wash the bacon before adding it.

  6. A quarter of an hour before removing the chicken, add the half of a small can of truffles cut into slices.

Layer and set

  1. Boil eight eggs very hard and cut them in slices.

  2. Arrange on the bottom of an earthen dish a layer of egg slices and truffles, then a layer of chicken meat.

  3. Alternate the layers until the dish is two-thirds full.

  4. Return the bones and coarse pieces of meat to the pot, and reduce the liquid one third.

  5. Strain, cool, and remove the grease.

  6. Return the stock to the fire and add a quarter box or one half ounce of soaked gelatine.

  7. Pour this over the chicken.

Finish and serve

  1. When it has jellied and is ready to serve, place on the top a crust of puff paste cut to fit the dish, baked separately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

291Calories
40 gProtein
12 gFat
2 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Waternot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Chicken + thymetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Thyme + macetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,113 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Parsley + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,268 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Chicken + parsleytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,314 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the meat that forms the body of the pie, which sets firm once cooled.
Gelatine
Sets the strained stock into a firm jelly that holds the layers together when cold.
Bacon
Adds savoury fat and salty flavour to the chicken as it cooks in the stock.
Eggs
Hard-boiled slices add firm texture and a mild, rich contrast within the layers.
Truffles (in the method)
Contribute a strong, earthy aroma that perfumes the stock and the layers.

The step that matters

Reducing and straining the stock. Reducing concentrates the flavour and natural gelatine, while straining and removing grease keeps the jelly clear and firm. Too little reduction leaves it weak and unable to set.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, parsley, thyme):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, parsley, thyme. 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.

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