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Chicken and Ham Pie

A savory pie filled with shredded chicken, diced ham, and onion in a buttery crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,585 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Chicken and Ham Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the filling

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a skillet, melt butter and sauté onion until translucent.

  3. Add shredded chicken, diced ham, thyme, salt, and pepper; mix well.

Assemble and bake

  1. Fill the pie crust with the chicken and ham mixture.

  2. Cover with another pie crust, seal edges, and cut slits on top.

  3. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.

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. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Chicken + thymetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,173 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

Chicken
Provides the main body and protein of the filling, holding its shape when shredded and warmed.
Ham
Adds salty, savory flavor that complements the chicken in the filling.
Onion
Softens as it sautés, adding sweetness and aromatic depth to the filling.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the onion soften and brown lightly in the skillet.
Pie crust
Encloses the filling and browns in the oven, giving the pie its structure and golden surface.

The step that matters

Sauté the onion until translucent. Cooking the onion gently in butter drives off excess moisture and softens its sharp raw flavor. Undercooked onion can taste harsh and add extra water that makes the pie soggy.

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, ham, onion, butter, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Thymethe original
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Celeryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, ham, onion, butter, 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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