Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓
Creamed Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Finely chop the meat of the cooked chickens using kitchen shears.
In a bowl, combine the chopped chicken, grated onions, and canned mushrooms.
Make the cream sauce
In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour until smooth.
Gradually add the sweet cream to the flour mixture, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil.
Beat the mixture until smooth, then add it to the chicken mixture and season with pepper and salt.
Bake and serve
Transfer the mixture to a baking dish, sprinkle with cracker crumbs, and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
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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Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,172 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
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Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,814 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,626 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cooked chicken
- Forms the bulk of the dish, giving it its substance and meaty texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and cream into a smooth sauce that holds the filling together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries the flour, helping form a smooth roux.
- Sweet cream
- Makes up the liquid of the sauce, adding richness and a silky body when heated.
- Onions
- Contribute savory flavor and aroma as they blend into the sauce.
- Canned mushrooms
- Add earthy flavor and soft, moist texture to the filling.
The step that matters
Gradually adding the cream to the flour mixture. Adding cream slowly while stirring constantly keeps the flour dispersed, so the sauce becomes smooth instead of lumpy as it thickens near a boil.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, mushroom, flour, butter, cream, pepper):
- Potatofits better
- Spinachfits better
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, mushroom, flour, butter, cream, pepper. 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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