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 ↓
Chicken Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gelatine
Soak the gelatin in cold chicken stock.
Dissolve the gelatin in hot chicken stock and strain.
Whip and fold
When the mixture begins to thicken, beat it until frothy using an egg beater.
Fold in the stiffly beaten cream and diced chicken.
Season with salt and pepper.
Mould and set
Pour into ¼ pound baking tins dipped in cold water or any desired mold.
Chill until set.
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).
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Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Chicken + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,241 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm mousse as it cools.
- Cream
- Whipped to stiff peaks, it adds air and a light, creamy texture.
- Cooked chicken
- Provides the main body and savoury flavour of the mousse.
The step that matters
Beating the mixture as it begins to thicken. Gelatine sets as it cools, so the mixture must be beaten at the right point: if it is too runny, it will not hold air, and if it has already set, the cream and chicken will not blend in smoothly.
“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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