Name: Chicken Mousse
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons granulated gelatine; ¼ teaspoon celery salt; 2 tablespoons cold water; ¼ teaspoon paprika; 1 cup heavy cream, beaten; 1 cup cold chicken, cut into cubes; 1 tablespoon chopped olives

Why it works: Chicken and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,888 recipes. Both carry acetic acid hexyl ester, which smells sweet, green. The science ↓

Chicken Mousse

Ingredients

Directions

Heat chicken stock and add salt, celery salt, and paprika.
Soak gelatine in cold water, then add to the stock until dissolved.
Stir in chopped chicken and beaten cream until well combined.
Fold in beaten egg whites gently.
Pour mixture into moulds moistened with egg white and chill until set.
Serve on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise and a nest of celery straws.

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.

Chicken + olivetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,888 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).
Celery + olivetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,667 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Celery + chickentop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,375 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Celery + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,863 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Cream + chickentop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,241 recipes

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