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Chaud Froid of Chicken

A chilled chicken dish set in gelatin with cream, stock, and herbs, served with salad and mayonnaise.

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

Chaud Froid of Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Use the whiter parts of the chicken and cut them into thin pieces.

  2. Decorate the bottom of a mould with squares or stars of egg white, parsley or tarragon, and the yolk.

Make the custard

  1. Layer the chicken pieces in the mould, starting with the whiter parts on the outside.

  2. Fill the mould with smaller chicken scraps.

  3. Dissolve the gelatin in the chicken stock.

  4. Bring the mixture to a boil, seasoning with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  5. Stir in the cream.

  6. Pour the mixture into the mould.

Set and serve

  1. Let it cool completely.

  2. Dip the mould in warm water to release the dish.

  3. Fill the center with salad and mayonnaise or arrange it around the dish.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the stock and cream into a firm, sliceable jelly that holds the chicken in shape.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, mellow texture to the set aspic.
Chicken stock
Provides the liquid base that the gelatine sets, carrying the chicken flavour through the dish.
Cooked chicken
Forms the main filling, with the set jelly binding the pieces together.

The step that matters

Let it cool completely. Gelatine only sets reliably once the liquid is fully cooled. Pouring or unmoulding while it is still warm can leave the jelly soft and cause the decoration and chicken to slide.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, cream, egg, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Tarragonfits about as well
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cream, egg, pepper, nutmeg. 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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