Skip to main content
Main

Fricassee of Fowl

A fricassee of fowl made with chicken, onion, clove, water, pepper, salt, sweet herbs, butter, flour, and mushroom liquor.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Fricassee of Fowl

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Cut the chicken into pieces: remove the wings, legs, and divide the breast from the back.

  2. Soak the chicken pieces in cold water for 1 hour, then drain.

Poach the chicken

  1. In a large stewpan, combine the chicken, onion with clove, water, pepper, salt, and sweet herbs.

  2. Bring to a boil, skim, then simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

  3. Remove the chicken and cool in cold water for 4-5 minutes.

Make the sauce

  1. In a separate stewpan, melt butter and flour over low heat for 5 minutes without browning.

  2. Add the broth from the chicken and mushroom liquor, bring to a boil, and simmer.

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. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

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

  5. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main protein and flavor, and releases savory juices into the broth as it simmers.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and combines with flour to form the base of the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the sauce when cooked with butter and combined with the broth.
Mushroom liquor
Adds earthy, savory aroma and depth of flavor to the sauce.

The step that matters

Cooking the butter and flour without browning. Cooking the roux gently for 5 minutes cooks out the raw starch taste while keeping it pale. Browning would change the color and flavor of the white sauce, and too much heat can scorch it.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, pepper, butter, flour, mushroom. 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.

More fricassee recipes

Chicken 369Oyster 79Rabbit 73Veal 52Oysters 35Tripe 31 See all 8 →

You might also like

Chicken BrothChicken Broth257 recipesChicken SoupChicken Soup156 recipesCreamed ChickenCreamed Chicken89 recipesChicken PanadaChicken Panada75 recipes