Why it works: Chicken and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,375 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
In a large saucepan, heat lard and butter over medium heat.
Add flour and brown it with the chopped onion.
Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, then add them to the saucepan.
Fry the salt pork or ham with the lard, butter, flour, and onion mixture.
Simmer and serve
Add the potatoes, tomatoes, Lima beans, green peas, and green corn to the saucepan.
Pour in enough boiling water to cover the ingredients and let it boil until cooked through.
Just before serving, stir in the claret wine and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir well and serve hot.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Chicken + porktop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,375 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Pork + potatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,667 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Onion + potatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9,019 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + tomatotop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,797 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Chicken + potatotop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,756 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Provides the main protein and flavour that the stewed vegetables and broth build on.
- Flour
- Browned with the onion to thicken the stew and add a toasty, nutty flavour.
- Potatoes
- Soften as they cook and thicken the stew while adding body and starch.
- Tomatoes
- Add acidity and liquid that balances the richness of the fat and meats.
- Claret wine
- Adds acidity and aromatic depth when stirred in at the end.
- Lima beans
- Add starchy body and a creamy texture to the stew.
The step that matters
Adding the claret just before serving. Wine added at the end keeps its aromatic and acidic character, since long boiling would drive off much of the alcohol and fresh fruit notes.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, butter, flour, pepper, pork, potato, tomato):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
- Asparagusabout as good a flavor fit
- Carrotabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, flour, pepper, pork, potato, tomato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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