Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓
Creamed Chicken
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.
Prepare the chicken
Boil the chickens carefully until only ½ cup of water remains. Season while boiling.
Remove the chicken from the bones in large pieces.
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, melt the butter and gradually stir in the flour. Cook until frothy, stirring to prevent burning.
Gradually add the chicken broth and then the thick cream. Season and remove from heat.
If the sauce is not thick enough, add a little more flour and stir.
Layer and bake
Butter a baking dish and layer the chicken, mushrooms, small bits of butter, and cream sauce. Repeat layers until all ingredients are used.
Cover with cream sauce, add bits of butter on top, and brown in the oven at 400°F (200°C).
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,172 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + mushroomtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,500 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Butter and flour 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
- Chickens
- Provide the main body of the dish and, through their broth, the liquid base of the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and broth into a smooth sauce that coats the chicken.
- Butter
- Enriches the roux and adds richness and flavor to the sauce and top browning.
- Thick cream
- Adds richness and body to the sauce, giving it a smooth, velvety texture.
The step that matters
Cooking the flour and butter roux. Flour must cook in the melted butter until frothy, stirring constantly, so it loses its raw taste and thickens evenly. Skipping this or letting it burn gives a pasty or bitter sauce.
“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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