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Entree, Chicken Cream

A baked chicken custard served with mushrooms and cream sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Entree, Chicken Cream

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Lay a piece of paper dipped in olive oil over the chicken and bake until firm, about 10 to 15 minutes.

  3. Remove the meat from the chicken and mince it finely.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, salt, and white pepper to make a rich custard.

  2. Mix the pounded chicken into the custard until it has a thick batter consistency.

  3. Grease small moulds (or one large mould) with butter and pour in the chicken mixture.

Steam and serve

  1. Place the moulds in a steamer, cover with thick paper to prevent moisture, and steam for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size.

  2. Serve with mushrooms in the center and pour cream sauce over the top.

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 + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  2. Olive + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,571 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Chicken + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,888 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main body of the dish, setting into a firm, sliceable texture once cooked.
Eggs
Set when heated, binding the mixture and giving it a firm, custard-like structure.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the custard.

The step that matters

Mixing the chicken into the custard. If the mixture is too thin or too thick, the moulds will not set evenly. Egg proteins set with gentle heat, so a well-blended batter that is not overheated gives a smooth, uniform texture.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, olive, egg, cream, butter, mushroom):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, olive, egg, cream, butter, mushroom. 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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