Why it works: Chicken and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,756 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-decenal, which smells green, must. The science ↓
Chicken Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Place a few bony pieces of chicken in the bottom of a pan.
Add the cut potatoes and the rest of the chicken on top.
Pour in 1 pint of water and parboil on the stove.
Add butter, pepper, and salt to taste.
Bake
Cover with a rich pie crust made of cream and butter.
Leave a vent in the middle and add more water if it boils away.
Bake in the oven at 400°F (200°C) until the crust is done.
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.
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Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,756 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Young chicken
- Provides the main protein and savory flavor, with bones adding richness to the broth.
- Potatoes
- Absorb cooking liquid and thicken the filling as they soften, adding body.
- Rich pie crust
- Encloses the filling and browns in the oven, giving a golden, crisp top.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, contributing flavor and a silky mouthfeel to the filling.
The step that matters
Leave a vent in the middle and add more water if it boils away.. A vent lets steam escape so the crust does not swell or crack unevenly. Keeping enough liquid prevents the chicken and potatoes from drying out while the pie bakes under the crust.
“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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