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Grandmother's Pressed Chicken

A boiled chicken that is shredded, seasoned, and pressed into a compact loaf.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,902 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Grandmother's Pressed Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the chicken

  1. Place chicken pieces in a kettle and cover with cold water.

  2. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface.

  3. Boil until the chicken is tender and falls from the bones.

  4. Remove the chicken.

  5. Let the water boil down to about 1 teacup.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Remove bones and gristle from the chicken.

  2. Shred the chicken finely.

  3. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and butter.

  4. Stir in the reserved cooking liquid and mix well.

Press and chill

  1. Pack the chicken mixture into two 3-inch diameter, 8-inch long tin tubes.

  2. Insert polished sticks into the tubes.

  3. Place a light weight on top.

  4. Refrigerate until very cold.

  5. Remove from tubes.

  6. Slice into ½-inch thick pieces.

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. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  2. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Chicken + eggtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,991 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the meat that sets into a firm, sliceable block once chilled.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, helping the chilled chicken taste softer and rounder.
Cooking liquid (in the method)
Carries gelatin from the bones, which helps the chicken mixture hold together when cold.

The step that matters

Let the water boil down to about 1 teacup. The reduced cooking liquid is rich in gelatin from the bones and skin. As it chills, that gelatin sets and binds the shredded meat, so too much water leaves the pressed block loose and crumbly.

“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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