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Chicken Mould

A steamed mixture of chicken, ham, butter, eggs, and cream seasoned with cayenne, salt, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chicken Mould

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pound the chicken and ham together in a mortar.

  2. Add butter, beaten eggs, and whipped cream; mix well.

  3. Season with cayenne, salt, and nutmeg.

Cook and serve

  1. Steam the mixture for 20 minutes.

  2. Serve with oyster or tomato sauce.

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. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Meat + chickentop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

White meat of chicken
Forms the main body of the mould, giving it its structure once cooked.
Ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour and firmness to the pounded meat.
Butter
Adds fat, keeping the mould moist and tender rather than dry.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when steamed, holding the mould together.
Whipped cream
Adds richness and lightness, keeping the texture soft and delicate.

The step that matters

Mixing in the eggs and cream. Beaten eggs and whipped cream must be mixed in thoroughly so the mixture sets evenly when steamed. Overmixing or uneven blending can leave a dense or grainy texture.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, chicken, ham, butter, egg, cream, pepper):

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, chicken, ham, butter, egg, cream, pepper. 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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