Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 4,172 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓
Creme De Volaille
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken and mushrooms
Boil the chicken until cooked.
Remove the meat.
Grind the meat using a meat grinder.
Grind the mushrooms.
Mix the mushrooms with the cream sauce.
Make the mixture
Beat in the butter until well combined.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Season the mixture with salt, pepper, grated onion, and chopped parsley.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into buttered molds.
Steam for 1.5 hours.
Serve with a rich white sauce flavored with sherry wine.
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.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,172 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
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Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,814 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together25,843 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
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set it into a firm, sliceable custard-like texture when steamed.
- Cream sauce
- Adds moisture and richness, keeping the ground mixture soft and smooth.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps the mixture blend into a smooth, tender texture.
- Chicken
- Provides the main protein base that gives the mould its body and savoury flavour.
- Mushrooms
- Adds earthy flavour and moisture to the ground mixture.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs one at a time. Adding eggs gradually and beating well after each addition lets them emulsify fully into the fat and cream, producing an even, smooth mixture. Dumping them in together can cause curdling or lumps, which then show up as a grainy set texture.
Flavor stand-ins for the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, cream, sauce, egg, onion, mushroom, butter):
- Garlicbetter flavor fit
- Capersabout as good a flavor fit
- Tarragonabout as good a flavor fit
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cream, sauce, egg, onion, mushroom, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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