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Potted Chicken

Chicken pieces simmered in a spiced jelly with eggs, lemon, and catsup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.) · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 5 ingredients
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Potted Chicken

Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Potted Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Boil a pair of chickens until you can pull the meat from the bones.

  2. Take out the meat and let the bones boil to a jelly.

Make the jelly and combine

  1. The next day cut the meat in pieces, throw it into the jelly, when melted, and add to it catsup, salt, allspice, cloves and mace.

  2. Cut up 6 or 8 hard boiled eggs and a lemon sliced.

Mold and cool

  1. Then put into round dishes or molds and let it cool for luncheon or supper.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

90Calories
6 gProtein
6 gFat
3 gCarbs

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
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
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 Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Egg + allspicetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  5. Egg + macetop 35% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,587 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Chickens (in the method)
Provide the meat and, through boiled bones, the gelatinous jelly that sets the dish.
Hard boiled eggs
Add firm pieces of egg white and yolk that contrast with the meat in each slice.
Catsup (in the method)
Adds sweetness and acidity to the seasoned jelly.

The step that matters

Letting the bones boil to a jelly. The jelly must be rich enough to set when cooled. Bones simmered long enough release gelatin, which firms as it chills and holds the meat and eggs together.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, allspice, clove):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, allspice, clove. 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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