Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Chicken Cutlets
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.
Make the base
In a saucepan, cook the flour and butter over medium heat until combined.
Add the stock and cream, stirring until smooth.
Remove from heat and mix in the beaten egg and chopped chicken.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Shape and bake
Let the mixture cool, then form it into cutlets.
Dip each cutlet in egg and then coat with bread crumbs.
Place the cutlets on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + chickentop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the stock and cream into a binding base for the cutlets.
- Butter
- Cooks with the flour to form a roux, adding richness and flavor.
- Stock
- Provides liquid that gelatinizes with the flour into a smooth sauce.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, softening the mixture and keeping it tender.
- Egg
- Binds the chicken mixture together and helps the coating adhere.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool before shaping. A hot, loose mixture cannot hold its shape. Cooling lets the starch set and the egg firm up, so the cutlets keep their form in the pan and oven.
“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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