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Chicken Pie, Individual

A single-serving chicken pie filled with shredded chicken, broth, milk, onions, carrots, and a buttery crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chicken Pie, Individual

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the filling

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and carrots; sauté until soft.

  3. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper; cook for 1 minute.

  4. Gradually add chicken broth and milk, stirring until thickened.

  5. Add shredded chicken and mix well.

Assemble and bake

  1. Roll out pie crusts and line individual pie dishes.

  2. Fill with chicken mixture and cover with another crust.

  3. Cut slits in the top crust for steam to escape.

  4. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

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. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Melts with the vegetables to form a fat base that carries flavour into the filling.
Flour
Cooked into the butter and then whisked with liquid, it thickens the filling into a creamy sauce.
Chicken broth
Forms the savoury liquid base of the sauce, which thickens as it heats.
Milk
Adds creaminess and body to the sauce alongside the broth.
Onion
Softens while sautéing and adds savoury sweetness to the filling.
Carrots
Soften during sautéing and add mild sweetness and colour to the filling.

The step that matters

Thickening the sauce. Stirring in the broth and milk gradually keeps the flour smooth. Adding liquid too fast can cause lumps, and the sauce only thickens fully once it has reached a gentle simmer.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, milk, onion, butter, flour, pepper):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, milk, onion, butter, flour, 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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