Name: Chicken in Casserole or Patty Shells
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked chicken, cubed; ½ cup small French mushrooms; 6 tiny onions, boiled in two waters; 12 steamed potato balls; 1 cup boiled celery, chopped and drained; ½ cup rich chicken stock; ½ cup cream; shredded pimentoes

Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chicken in Casserole or Patty Shells

Ingredients

Directions

Combine

Combine the cooked chicken, mushrooms, boiled onions, potato balls, and chopped celery in a large bowl.

Make the sauce and serve

Prepare a cream sauce by mixing the chicken stock and cream in a saucepan over medium heat until combined.
Pour the cream sauce over the chicken mixture and stir gently to combine.
Top with shredded pimentos before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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.

Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,756 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked chicken: Forms the substantial protein base of the casserole.
Cream: Adds richness and body to the sauce, giving it a smooth texture.
Rich chicken stock: Provides savory chicken flavor to the cream sauce.
Potato balls: Add starchy bulk that soaks up sauce and adds soft texture.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, mushroom, onion, potato, cream):

Garlicfits better
Thymefits about as well
Celerythe original
Rosemaryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, mushroom, onion, potato, cream. 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.