Why it works: Cream and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,481 recipes. Both carry acetaldehyde, which smells pungent, ethereal. The science ↓
Creamed Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Boil the chickens until tender.
Once cooled, pick the meat into bite-sized pieces.
Make the creamed chicken
In a pot, heat the chicken and some of the stock over medium heat.
In a separate bowl, mix the cream with a little flour or cornstarch to thicken.
Add the thickened cream to the pot just before serving and heat thoroughly.
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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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Chicken + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,241 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Chicken + flourtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,559 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Chicken and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,559 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 meat and, once boiled, the stock that makes up the base of the dish.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture to the finished dish.
- Flour or cornstarch
- Thickens the cream so the sauce clings to the chicken instead of running thin.
- Chicken stock
- Adds savory liquid that loosens the chicken and carries flavor through the dish.
The step that matters
Add the thickened cream just before serving. Cream can curdle or separate when boiled for long. Adding it near the end and heating only until hot keeps the sauce smooth.
“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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