Name: Fricassee of Chickens, with Mushrooms, Etc.
Ingredients: 2 fat plump chickens; carrot; onion; mushrooms; salt; pepper; butter; water

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 Chickens, with Mushrooms, Etc.

Ingredients

Directions

Singe the chickens over a charcoal flame and cut them into joints.
Remove the wings and legs, then cut parallel cuts on the back to mark where to detach the legs and wings.
Place the chicken on its side and cut the leg and fillet, then repeat on the other side.
Remove the thigh bones, separate the back and breast, and trim without waste.
Soak the pieces in tepid water for 10 minutes, squeezing to extract blood.
Strew the bottom of a stewpan with thinly sliced carrot and onion.

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.

Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

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

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

Swap the carrot

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

Potatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Tomatofits better
Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, mushroom, pepper, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.