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Stewed Chicken

A stew of cooked chicken, bread, potatoes, raisins, tomatoes, green chili, Sauterne, and lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,798 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stewed Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine the cooked chicken, toasted bread, potatoes, raisins, tomatoes, and green chili in a bowl.

  2. Add the Sauterne and salt, mixing well.

  3. Transfer the mixture to a stewing jar and add enough water to barely cover it.

  4. Place the lard pieces on top.

  5. Cover the jar with a cloth over the lid.

Stew and serve

  1. Stew gently for about 1.5 hours.

  2. Serve hot.

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. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,756 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

  3. Chicken + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,258 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Bulk up the stew and soften into a starchy, thickening body as they cook.
Lard
Adds fat and richness, enriching the broth and moistening the mixture as it melts.
Toasted bread
Absorbs liquid and helps give the stew body and a softer texture.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture that blend into the stewing liquid.
Sauterne
Adds wine sweetness and aroma to the stewing liquid.

The step that matters

Stew gently with the jar covered. Gentle, covered heat keeps the liquid from evaporating or boiling hard, so the potatoes and chicken become tender and the flavors blend slowly.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, bread, potato, tomato):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, bread, potato, tomato. 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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