Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 41,516 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Creme De Volaille
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Melt the butter and flour together in a saucepan.
Add the white stock and stir until combined.
Prepare the chicken
Chop, pound, and rub the chicken through a sieve.
Combine and steam
Once the sauce is cool, add the egg and whipped cream, mixing well.
Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.
Steam for 15 minutes.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Chicken
- Forms the bulk of the dish and gives it its main flavour and body.
- Butter and flour
- Form a roux that thickens the white stock into a smooth sauce.
- Egg
- Sets when steamed, giving the cream a firm, sliceable structure.
- Whipped cream
- Adds richness and a light, airy texture to the mixture.
The step that matters
Let the sauce cool before adding the egg and cream. If the sauce is still hot, the egg can scramble and the cream can break or thin out, so the mixture will not set smoothly when steamed.
“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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