Why it works: Chicken and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,417 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
Stewed Chicken with Salt Pork
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Prepare the chicken as you would for fried chicken, cutting it into pieces.
Place the chicken in a kettle and cover it with cold water.
Add the salt pork and boil until the chicken is tender.
Make the biscuits
While the chicken cooks, prepare baking powder biscuits.
Break open the biscuits and place them on a platter.
Finish and serve
Once the chicken is tender, thicken the gravy with flour, add seasoning and cream.
Pour the gravy over the chicken and serve immediately.
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 + porktop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,417 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
-
Flour + biscuittop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together889 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Cream + biscuittop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,235 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
-
Pork + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,093 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Pork + biscuittop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together339 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a gravy as it binds with the liquid.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smoother, silkier texture to the gravy.
- Salt pork
- Flavors the cooking liquid with salty, savory fat as the chicken simmers.
- Baking powder biscuits
- Provides a soft, absorbent base on which the gravy and chicken are served.
The step that matters
Thickening the gravy with flour. Flour must be stirred into the hot liquid so it disperses evenly; added in clumps, it stays lumpy and the gravy thickens unevenly.
“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.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Chicken Broth257 recipes
Chicken Soup156 recipes
Pork Cake107 recipes
Creamed Chicken89 recipes