Why it works: Chicken and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,814 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓
Chicken, Fricasseed
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the chicken
Separate the wings, legs, and breasts of the chickens.
Soak the separated pieces in salt water for 1–2 hours.
Refrigerate the chickens with a sprinkle of salt for 24 hours.
Wash the chickens.
Dust the chickens with flour.
Sprinkle the chickens with salt.
Fry and stew
In a 400°F (200°C) oven, fry the chickens in lard until browned.
Add water, cover, and let the chicken stew.
About 20 minutes before done, add the chopped onion to the gravy.
Finish the gravy and serve
Five minutes before serving, mix the egg yolks into a batter.
Stir the egg yolk batter into the gravy, seasoning with black pepper.
Once the chicken is done, add the egg whites to the gravy.
Let the gravy with egg whites cook briefly.
Pour the gravy over the chicken and serve.
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.
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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 + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together32,460 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chickens
- Provide the main protein, which turns tender and moist during the long stew.
- Flour
- Dusting helps the chicken brown and thickens the gravy as it cooks.
- Lard
- Fat for frying that browns the chicken surface and adds rich flavor.
- Onion
- Releases sweetness and aroma into the gravy during the stew.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the gravy and give it a smoother, thicker body.
- Egg whites
- Set into soft, delicate pieces when added to the hot gravy.
The step that matters
Stirring the egg yolk batter into the gravy. Adding egg yolks to hot liquid can scramble them into lumps. Blending the batter first and stirring steadily keeps the gravy smooth and evenly thickened.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, flour, egg, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, flour, 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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