Why it works: Chicken and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,958 recipes. Both carry piperonal, which smells bitter, coconut. The science ↓
Pressed Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the chicken
Place the chicken in a pot over moderate heat and simmer gently until the meat falls from the bones.
Add 1 teaspoon of salt when the chicken is about half done.
Remove the meat from the bones and cut it into small pieces.
Make the liquid
Return the skin and bones to the pot and boil until the liquid is reduced to 1½ pints.
Strain the liquid and season it to taste with salt and pepper.
Press and set
Mix the seasoned liquid with the chicken pieces.
Pour the mixture into a mold and refrigerate overnight.
Place a light weight on top to press it together.
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 + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Provides the meat that forms the body of the dish and, with its bones and skin, the flavourful liquid.
- Reduced cooking liquid (in the method)
- Concentrates flavour and carries moisture that helps bind the chopped meat as it sets.
The step that matters
Reducing the liquid. Boiling until the liquid reaches 1½ pints concentrates its flavour and gelatin. If it is under-reduced, the mixture may not set firmly when chilled; if over-reduced, it may become too salty or stiff.
“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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