Why it works: Chicken and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,958 recipes. Both carry piperonal, which smells bitter, coconut. The science ↓
Jellied Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Pluck, singe, and clean the chicken without breaking the intestines.
Cut off the head and feet, then divide it into 4 or 5 pieces.
Place the chicken pieces in a saucepan, cover with hot water, add salt and pepper, and boil until the bones can be removed.
Remove the bones and place the chicken in a mold or dish suitable for turning out.
Make the jelly
Strain the broth.
Return the strained broth to the saucepan.
Dissolve the gelatine in enough cold water to cover it.
Stir the softened gelatine into the hot broth until fully dissolved.
Season the broth with salt and a little cayenne.
Pour the broth over the chicken in the mold.
Set and serve
Once cooled, turn the jellied chicken out of the mold.
Slice the jellied chicken as desired.
Garnish the jellied chicken with acid jelly or spicy pickle.
Serve the jellied chicken with jellied cranberries.
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 + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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 bones that flavour the broth while it simmers.
- Gelatine
- Sets the strained broth into a firm jelly once it cools.
- Broth
- Carries the flavour and forms the body of the jelly around the chicken.
The step that matters
Dissolving the gelatine in the broth. Gelatine must be softened in cold water first and then fully dissolved into hot broth. If it is left in lumps or not fully dissolved, it will not set evenly and the jelly will be grainy or weak.
“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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