Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Chicken Pie
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.
Prepare the chicken
Place the cut-up chickens in a stew kettle and cover with water.
Boil the chickens until tender.
Make the gravy
In a bowl, mix the butter, flour, and egg yolk until smooth.
Stir this mixture into the water the chicken was boiled in to make gravy.
Assemble and bake
Line the sides of a deep dish with pie crust and place a small teacup upside down in the center.
Add the stewed chicken and gravy into the dish.
If desired, add oysters and hard boiled eggs.
Cover with more pie crust and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Egg + oystertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they 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
- Chickens
- Provide the main meat, which becomes tender through long boiling and flavours the cooking liquid.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the gravy a smoother mouthfeel.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a gravy as it is stirred in.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and helps emulsify the gravy, giving it a smooth, silky texture.
- Pie crust
- Forms the enclosing pastry that holds the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Stirring the flour, butter and yolk into the hot broth. Adding the paste to hot liquid without first smoothing it can cause lumps, because starch clumps when it hits heat unevenly. Mixing until smooth first lets the flour disperse evenly so the gravy thickens smoothly.
“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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