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Blanc to Boil Chickens in

A chicken simmered in a white broth made from veal, bacon, butter, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,677 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Blanc to Boil Chickens in

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Combine veal, bacon, and butter in a stewpan; do not allow to brown.

  2. While the meat is still white, pour boiling water over it.

  3. Add the clove, bay leaf, sweet herbs, and shallot.

  4. Stew until sufficiently cooked, then strain through a fine sieve over the chicken.

Cook the chicken

  1. Simmer the chicken in the strained liquid for 30 minutes.

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. Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Veal + chickentop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).

  3. Butter + chickentop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Butter + shallottop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Shallot + chickentop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together731 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

Veal
Adds body and savory depth to the stock as it stews slowly.
Bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor to the stock.
Butter
Adds fat that gives the stock a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
Whole chicken
Is the main dish, cooked gently in the liquid so it stays tender.

The step that matters

Keep the meat from browning. Browning creates brown color and roasted flavors through the Maillard reaction. This recipe is meant to stay white, so the veal, bacon, and butter must be heated gently without coloring.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, shallot, chicken):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, shallot, chicken. 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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