Why it works: Cream and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,787 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Cream Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Bake the chicken
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a covered pan, pour 1 quart of thin cream sauce over the cut-up chickens.
Bake for 1 hour.
Add sauce and brown
Remove from the oven and add the remaining 2 quarts of cream sauce.
Return to the oven uncovered and bake until rich brown, about 30 minutes.
Make ahead
For best results, bake for 1 hour in the morning, cover, and let stand until needed, then add the second cream sauce and bake for another 30 minutes.
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.
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Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,389 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Chicken + saucetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,513 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Chicken + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,241 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chickens
- Provides the meat, which cooks through slowly in the sauce during the long covered bake.
- Cream sauce
- Adds moisture and a rich, creamy body, and its milk solids help the top turn brown.
The step that matters
Return to the oven uncovered and bake until rich brown. The covered first bake keeps moisture in. Uncovering lets surface liquid evaporate and the sauce thicken, and the milk sugars and proteins brown. Baking covered the whole time would leave the top pale and the sauce thin.
“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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