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Chicken a LA King

A chicken dish simmered in butter, celery, parsley, peppers, mushrooms, stock, Sherry wine, cream, and egg yolks, served on toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chicken a LA King

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the chicken

  1. Dress, clean, and season the chicken with salt and pepper.

  2. Half cover the chicken with boiling water.

  3. Add butter, celery, and parsley to the pot.

  4. Cover and cook until tender.

  5. Once cold, remove the skin and cut the chicken into slices.

Make the sauce

  1. In a pan, fry the green pepper and mushrooms in butter until half done.

  2. Add the chicken slices and Spanish red pepper to the pan.

  3. Pour in chicken stock.

  4. Season with salt and cayenne pepper.

  5. Add Sherry wine and cook for about 10 minutes.

  6. Stir in enough cream to cover and cook slowly for 8 to 10 minutes.

  7. Before serving, thicken with egg yolks mixed with a little cream, stirring constantly while pouring in the eggs.

  8. Add chopped truffles if desired.

Serve

  1. Serve on buttered toast or in a chafing dish.

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. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  4. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  5. Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the cream sauce and give it a rich, smooth body when stirred in gently.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky texture, and helps the sauce coat the chicken.
Chicken stock
Forms the savory liquid base of the sauce that carries the other flavors.
Sherry wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavor as it cooks down into the sauce.
Mushrooms
Contribute earthy flavor and a tender, meaty texture to the sauce.

The step that matters

Thicken with egg yolks. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if the sauce is too hot or they are added without tempering. Mixing them with a little cream first and stirring constantly while pouring them in keeps the sauce smooth and evenly thickened.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, butter, parsley, mushroom, sherry, wine):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, butter, parsley, mushroom, sherry, wine. 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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