Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cream of Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Pound the chicken, veal, or rabbit until smooth.
Pound the panada and mix it with the meat.
Add the soubise sauce, butter, sherry, pepper, salt, and eggs.
Pass the mixture through a fine wire sieve.
Stir in the thick cream.
Steam and serve
Butter small timbale molds and fill them with the mixture, tapping the molds on the table.
Steam the molds for about 15 minutes.
Carefully turn them out and serve hot, with tomato sauce around them.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,389 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken, veal, or rabbit
- Provides the main protein that sets into a firm, sliceable body when steamed.
- Panada
- Bread soaked in hot milk that adds moisture and keeps the mixture tender rather than dense.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set it into a smooth, firm custard-like texture as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender mouthfeel.
- Thick cream
- Adds moisture and richness, keeping the finished mousse-like texture light and soft.
The step that matters
Passing the mixture through a fine wire sieve. Sieving breaks down fibres and lumps so the mixture becomes completely smooth, which gives a fine, even texture once set. Skipping it can leave a grainy result.
“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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