Name: Fricassee of Chickens, with Mushrooms, Etc.
Ingredients: 2 plump chickens; carrot, thinly sliced; onion, thinly sliced; celery, thinly sliced; tepid water

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Fricassee of Chickens, with Mushrooms, Etc.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chickens by drawing and singeing them over a charcoal flame.
Cut the chickens into small joints: remove wings and legs, then cut parallel lines on the back to mark where to detach.
Place the chicken on its side and cut the leg and fillet, then repeat on the other side, removing thigh bones.
Separate the back and breast, trim without waste, and cut the back into two pieces.
Soak the chicken pieces in a pan of tepid water for about 10 minutes, squeezing to extract blood.
In a stewpan, layer the bottom with thinly sliced carrot, onion, and celery.

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.

Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,375 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).