Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Chicken Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the chicken
Dress, clean, and cut up the chickens into serving pieces.
Place the chicken in a stew pan, cover with boiling water, and cook until tender.
Add salt and pepper when the chicken is half cooked.
Remove the chicken and strain the stock, skimming off the fat.
Reduce the stock to 3½ cups.
Make the gravy
Melt the butter in a pan, add flour, and gradually pour in the reduced stock while stirring constantly.
Remove larger bones from the chicken and add the meat to the gravy, allowing it to sit for several hours.
Assemble and bake
Transfer the mixture to a large pudding dish and cover with pastry, making incisions for steam to escape.
Wet the edge of the crust and create a rim around the dish.
Decorate the top with pastry cut into fancy shapes.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 45 minutes.
Chicken pie can be made a day in advance and reheated before serving.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
-
Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
-
Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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
- Chicken
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through slow simmering in water.
- Butter
- Enriches the gravy and adds richness to its flavor.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock into a smooth gravy when cooked with the butter.
- Chicken stock
- Forms the liquid base of the gravy, carrying flavor through the filling.
- Pastry
- Forms the crust that covers the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Thickening the gravy. Pour the stock in gradually while stirring constantly. Adding it all at once can leave lumps of flour that do not smooth out, so the gravy stays thin or grainy.
“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.
More chicken pie recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.