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 ↓
Creamed Chicken
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 the chicken
Boil the chicken in as little water as possible until cooked.
Cut up the hot chicken as for salad.
Make the sauce
In a separate pot, combine the chicken broth, milk, butter, and flour; stir until smooth.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then combine it with the chicken and mushrooms in a baking pan.
Bake and serve
Cover the mixture with equal parts bread and cracker crumbs.
Dot the top with lumps of butter and season with salt and pepper.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.
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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Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,172 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the milk and broth into a smooth, creamy sauce that holds the chicken together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor to the sauce and browns the crumb topping.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the creamy sauce, adding body and mild sweetness.
- Mushrooms
- Add earthy flavor and moisture to the creamed mixture.
The step that matters
Bring the mixture to a boil. Flour only thickens fully when the starch-thickened liquid reaches a boil. Stopping early leaves the sauce thin and pasty-tasting.
“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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