Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Creamed Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a frying pan, melt the butter until it bubbles.
Add the flour and stir well.
Move the pan to the side of the stove and add the milk, cream, egg yolk, salt, and pepper.
Finish
Stir to combine, then add the chopped chicken and mix well.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 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
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce with fat and adds a rich, savory flavor.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the sauce as it cooks with the butter and liquid.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce that thickens into a creamy texture.
- Cream
- Adds richness and body, giving the sauce a smoother, silkier texture.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches and thickens the sauce, adding richness and body.
- Cooked chicken
- Forms the main body of the dish, held together in the creamy sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolk off the heat. Egg yolk thickens sauces through gentle heat. Adding it while the pan is still hot can scramble it into lumps, so the pan is moved to the side of the stove first.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, butter, flour, milk, cream, egg, pepper):
- Nutmegfits better
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Cinnamonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, flour, milk, cream, egg, pepper. 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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