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Chicken Pie

A savory pie made with boiled chicken, biscuit dough, butter, and optional eggs or potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the chicken

  1. Cut up the chickens and place them in a pot of water.

  2. Boil until tender.

Assemble the pie

  1. Line a 4 or 5 quart pan with biscuit dough, ¼ inch thick.

  2. Add part of the chicken, season with salt, pepper, and butter.

  3. Lay in a few strips or squares of dough, then add the rest of the chicken and season again.

  4. If desired, add eggs or new potatoes.

  5. Season the boiling chicken broth with butter, salt, and pepper. Add some to the pie.

  6. Cover with more dough, making a hole in the center the size of a teacup.

  7. Keep adding chicken broth and hot water as needed to prevent dryness.

Bake

  1. Bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°C), ensuring the bottom crust is well baked.

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.

  1. Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,756 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Biscuit + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together889 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Biscuit + potatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together137 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Pepper + biscuittop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together841 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Chickens
Provide the meat that forms the filling of the pie.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the seasoned chicken and broth.
Flour
Thickens the broth into a gravy that binds the filling.
Baking powder or soda biscuit dough
Forms the crust that lines the pan and covers the filling.
Eggs
Optional addition that adds richness and sets when baked.

The step that matters

Keep adding chicken broth and hot water as needed. Filling can dry out during baking, and adding hot liquid keeps the chicken moist and the crust from drying.

Swap the potato

The recipe marks potato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, butter, biscuit, egg, flour):

  1. Spinachfits about as well
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, butter, biscuit, egg, flour. 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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