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 ↓
Cream of Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Scrape the chicken and pass it through a very fine sieve.
Put the chicken in a mortar and pound well.
Make the mixture
Add the egg whites one at a time, along with a little salt, and beat well for 10 minutes.
Slowly add the cream and mix until well combined.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into a well-buttered mold and steam for 20 minutes.
Pour over rich cream sauce and garnish with truffles and mushrooms.
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.
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Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,172 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
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Truffle + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,900 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Chicken + truffletop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together756 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Cream + mushroomtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,500 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Egg + truffletop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,604 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Forms the main body of the dish, giving it its base flavor and substance.
- Eggs
- Whites set when steamed, giving the cream a light, firm structure.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, producing a smooth, tender texture.
The step that matters
Beating in the egg whites. Beating the whites thoroughly and adding them gradually helps the mixture emulsify and hold air, so it stays smooth and light rather than separating or turning dense 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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