Why it works: Cream and butter match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 41,494 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean and wash the chicken in cold water, then joint and cut it into pieces.
Prepare two short cakes or small soda biscuits, rolled thin and cut into squares.
Make the sauce
Stew the chicken until well done.
In a separate bowl, mix the cream or milk with the flour, butter, pepper, and salt to make a thickening.
Serve
Place the crusts on a dish and pour the hot chicken mixture over them.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Cream + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Flour + buttertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together122,858 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Chicken + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together13,869 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
-
Flour + biscuittop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together871 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Pepper + biscuittop 8% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together841 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Chicken
- Provides the main protein and, as it stews, flavours the liquid it cooks in.
- Cream or rich milk
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the sauce.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the cream mixture into a sauce as it heats.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rich mouthfeel and a smooth sauce texture.
- Short cakes or soda biscuits
- Form the base that soaks up the hot chicken sauce.
The step that matters
Thickening the cream mixture. Flour needs to be cooked in hot liquid long enough to swell and set the sauce; if it is added to cold or undercooked liquid, it can stay grainy or taste raw.
“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
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.