Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Creamed Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a bowl, rub the butter and flour together until creamy.
In a double boiler or a small tin pail set in hot water, heat the cream or milk until scalding.
Stir in the butter and flour mixture and cook for 3 minutes.
Finish and serve
Add the parsley and chicken, cooking until the mixture is thoroughly hot.
Beat the egg yolks and mix in 2 tablespoons of milk, then pour into the chicken mixture.
Cook for 10 minutes and serve in a border of mashed potatoes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream or milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce and keeps the chicken moist.
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid into a smooth, creamy sauce when cooked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor and helps blend the flour into the sauce.
- Egg yolks
- Enriches and thickens the sauce, giving it a silkier texture.
- Cooked chicken
- Provides the main protein and body of the dish.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken when heated gently but can scramble if the sauce is too hot. Mix them with some warm milk first and add them off the heat or at low heat, so the sauce stays smooth and creamy.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, chicken, pepper, butter, flour, egg):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Turmericfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, chicken, pepper, butter, flour, egg. 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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