Name: Fricassee of Chickens, a LA Roma1ne
Ingredients: 4 pieces of chicken, cut and trimmed; ½ cup salad oil; 1 bay leaf; 1 teaspoon dried thyme; 4 shallots, minced; ¼ teaspoon mignonette pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg; 1 clove garlic, minced; 12 small pimentos; 2 tablespoons flour; 2 cups Chablis or Sauterne wine; 2 cups white consommé; button mushrooms or morels, trimmed; crayfish tails; cock's kernels; juice of ½ lemon; 1 pat of butter; 6 small red pimentos, pounded; lobster coral, passed through a sieve

Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

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.

Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Thyme + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,476 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Thyme + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,907 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken: Provides the main protein; frying then simmering keeps the meat tender and flavourful.
Flour: Thickens the cooking liquid into a light sauce as it cooks with the wine and consommé.
White wine: Adds acidity and aroma, and helps build the flavour of the braising sauce.
White consommé: Supplies the main liquid for the sauce, adding savoury depth.
Shallots: Add a mild sweet, aromatic onion flavour that builds the base of the sauce.
Butter: Enriches the finished sauce, adding richness and a smooth, glossy texture.

The step that matters

Fry until firm but not browned. Frying only until the chicken firms keeps it from toughening and prevents browning, so the later simmer stays tender and the sauce stays pale and delicate.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, thyme, shallot, pepper, nutmeg, clove, flour):

Winter savoryfits better
Marjoramfits better
Allspicefits better
Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, thyme, shallot, pepper, nutmeg, clove, flour. 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.

Fricassee of Chickens, a LA Roma1ne