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Pressed Chicken

A dish of sliced chicken pressed with broth after seasoning and chilling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,449 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Pressed Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Remove the skin from the chicken and keep the light and dark meats separate.

  2. Chop the meat and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Press and chill

  1. Layer the chopped meat in a meat presser or any mold or pan, alternating light and dark meat.

  2. Add 1 cup of the broth it was boiled in.

  3. Place a heavy weight on top and refrigerate until cold.

Serve

  1. Once cold, cut into slices and serve.

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. Chicken + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 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

Light and dark chicken meat
Forms the body of the dish and sets firm when chilled under weight.
Chicken broth
Adds moisture and savory flavor, helping the pressed meat stay juicy and hold together.

The step that matters

Place a heavy weight on top and refrigerate until cold. Pressing while chilled compacts the chopped meat so it holds together when sliced. Gelatin from the broth helps it set firmly as it cools, so it should be fully cold before cutting.

“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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