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Quenels of Fowl

A dish of fowl quenelles served with white Italian sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,982 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Quenels of Fowl

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Scrape the white meat off the fowl and fat, and place in a mortar.

  2. Add breadcrumbs, shallot, and mushrooms; pound together.

  3. Mix in the egg yolks.

  4. Beat the egg whites in a separate plate.

  5. Combine the yolk mixture with the fowl mixture before adding the egg whites.

  6. Mix well.

  7. Season with pepper and salt.

Poach and serve

  1. Bring the stock to a boil in a pot on high heat.

  2. Using a large spoon, scoop the mixture into the boiling stock, forming quenels the size of an egg yolk.

  3. Cook until they float.

  4. Remove with a slotted spoon.

  5. Serve with white Italian sauce poured over them.

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. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  2. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

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

  4. Meat + shallottop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together484 recipes

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

  5. Meat + mushroomtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,423 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Fowl meat
Provides the main body of the quenelles, giving them their savoury flavour and substance.
Fat
Adds moisture and richness so the quenelles stay tender rather than dry.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb liquid and help bind the mixture so it holds its shape.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and add richness and tenderness.
Egg whites
Add lightness and help the quenelles puff and hold their shape when poached.

The step that matters

Adding the egg whites. Egg whites are folded in only after the yolk mixture is combined, so the whites are not overworked. Overbeating or overmixing can make the quenelles tough or dense, while gentle mixing keeps them light.

Swap the shallot

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, mushroom, egg, 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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