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Cream Chicken Forcemeat

A creamy forcemeat made from chicken or turkey breast and white meat, blended with cream, egg white, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cream Chicken Forcemeat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Cut the breast from a chicken or turkey, and the white meat from the wings; remove the skin and fat.

  2. Scrape the meat with a knife to free it from the sinews.

  3. Place the scraped meat in a mortar and pound it to a paste.

  4. While pounding, gradually incorporate the white of an egg to moisten the paste.

  5. After the meat is thoroughly macerated, take a little at a time and rub it through a sieve with a pestle or spoon.

Make the forcemeat

  1. Put the pulp in a bowl and season it with salt, pepper, and a dash of nutmeg.

  2. Set the bowl on cracked ice and stir in slowly one or one and a half cupfuls of thick cream, stirring continually, using a wire whip if convenient.

  3. When the mixture is a consistent paste, test it by dropping a half teaspoonful into hot (not boiling) water and letting it poach.

  4. If it is too thick, add more cream; if it is too thin, add a little beaten white of egg.

  5. The sample should poach for ten minutes, and when cut should be smooth and firm, but not tough.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

69Calories
1 gProtein
6 gFat
3 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Chicken or turkey white meat (in the method)
Forms the paste that becomes the body of the forcemeat.
Thick cream
Adds moisture and richness, giving the forcemeat a smooth, tender texture.
Egg white (in the method)
Moistens the paste and helps bind it so it sets smoothly when poached.

The step that matters

Testing the consistency by poaching a sample. Cream and egg white must be balanced so the paste is smooth and firm rather than tough. Poaching in water below boiling sets the proteins gently; boiling water would make the forcemeat tough and rubbery.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, pepper):

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Celeryfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits less well
  4. Parsleyfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, pepper. 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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