Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓
Stewed Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the salt butter in a stew pan.
Add the flour and stir until smooth and light yellow.
Add the chicken, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, turning once.
Add the beef jelly, sherry, and fill the pan with mushrooms.
Cover and simmer for another 30 minutes until ready to serve.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
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 + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,172 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
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Chicken + beeftop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,148 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,232 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,176 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Cooked in butter first, it thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth sauce.
- Beef jelly
- Adds gelatin and meaty flavour, giving the sauce body and a glossy richness.
- Sherry
- Adds acidity and aromatic depth that balances the rich beef and butter.
- Mushrooms
- Release their moisture and savoury flavour into the stewing liquid as they cook.
The step that matters
Add the flour and stir until smooth and light yellow. Flour must be cooked in the melted butter to remove its raw taste and prevent lumps. Stirring keeps it smooth so it thickens the sauce evenly when liquid is added.
“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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