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Fricassee of Spring Chickens, À LA Bourguignonne

A fricassée of spring chicken pieces simmered in butter, mushrooms, broth, and red wine, finished with parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓

Fricassee of Spring Chickens, À LA Bourguignonne

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Brown the chicken

  1. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the chicken pieces and brown them on all sides.

  3. Remove the chicken and set aside.

Make the sauce

  1. In the same skillet, add the mushrooms and sauté until tender.

  2. Sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and stir to combine.

  3. Gradually add the chicken broth and red wine, stirring until smooth.

Finish and serve

  1. Return the chicken to the skillet, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 30 minutes until cooked through.

  2. Garnish with fresh parsley before serving.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Mushroom + red winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together720 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Spring chickens
Provide the main protein, which browns and then becomes tender during simmering.
Butter
Adds fat for browning the chicken and carries flavour into the pan.
Mushrooms
Soften in the pan and add earthy flavour and moisture to the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth sauce as it heats.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the sauce as it reduces.
Chicken broth
Supplies liquid and savoury flavour to form the body of the sauce.

The step that matters

Gradually add the liquid while stirring. Adding broth and wine slowly while stirring keeps the flour dispersed, so the sauce becomes smooth instead of lumpy.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Rosemaryfits about as well
  3. Garlicfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, mushroom, red wine, flour, 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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