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Potted Chicken

A dish of chicken and hard‑boiled eggs set in a clear jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Potted Chicken

Why it works: Chicken and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,314 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Potted Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook the chicken

  1. Prepare the chicken for stewing.

  2. Boil the chicken.

  3. Set the cooking liquid aside to cool.

  4. Once cooled, skim off the grease and scum.

Make the jelly

  1. Boil the jelly.

  2. Clear the jelly with the white of an egg.

  3. Strain the jelly.

Assemble and set

  1. Cut the white meat into small pieces.

  2. In a mold, layer the chicken, sliced hard-boiled eggs, and parsley alternately.

  3. Pour the hot jelly over the layers.

  4. Let it congeal.

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.

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.

  1. Chicken + parsleytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,314 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. 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 and the rich, savoury flavour that goes into the cooking liquid and jelly.
Eggs
Hard-boiled slices add texture and contrast within the set jelly layers.
Parsley
Adds fresh, herbal aroma and green colour between the layers.

The step that matters

Clear the jelly with the white of an egg.. As the egg white heats, its proteins set and trap cloudy particles and impurities. Straining the jelly afterward removes them, leaving a clear, bright set jelly.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg. 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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