Name: Blanc to Boil Chickens in
Ingredients: 1 lb veal, cut into small pieces; 1 lb fat bacon, cut into small pieces; 1 lb butter; 1 clove; 1 bay leaf; a bundle of sweet herbs; a little shallot; boiling water

Why it works: Clove and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,677 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Blanc to Boil Chickens in

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth base

Combine veal, bacon, and butter in a stewpan; do not allow to brown.
Pour boiling water over the meat while it is still white.
Add the clove, bay leaf, sweet herbs, and shallot.
Stew until sufficiently cooked, then strain through a fine sieve over the chicken.

Finish

Simmer the chicken in the strained liquid for 30 minutes.

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.

Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,677 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Butter + shallottop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Veal + shallottop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together920 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,381 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Butter + clovetop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,045 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal: Releases gelatin and savory flavor into the broth as it stews.
Fat bacon: Adds fat and smoky, savory flavor to the broth.
Butter: Adds richness and carries aroma from the aromatics into the liquid.

The step that matters

Keep the meat from browning at the start. Browning changes the flavor and color of the broth, making it darker and more roasted than intended. Keeping the meat pale at the start yields a clear, mild broth.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, shallot):

Capersfits better
Tarragonfits better
Parsleyfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, shallot. 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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Blanc to Boil Chickens in