Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 4,172 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓
Bouchees a LA Reine
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prepare puff pastry cases or line small moulds with rice to prevent rising.
Make the filling
In a saucepan, heat the white sauce with chicken, ham, and other ingredients until hot.
Stir in the cream and then the egg yolks, ensuring they do not curdle.
Bake and serve
Fill the pastry cases with the mixture and bake until set.
Serve hot.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,172 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
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Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,900 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Ham + truffletop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together516 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Chicken + truffletop 13% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together756 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Provides the main savoury body of the filling.
- White sauce
- Gives the filling a smooth, creamy base that holds the other ingredients together.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a softer, silkier texture to the filling.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling and help it set when baked.
- Puff pastry
- Forms the flaky, crisp case that holds the filling.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg yolks. Egg yolks curdle if they get too hot or are added to a boiling mixture. Stir them in off the heat or over low heat so they thicken the filling smoothly instead of turning grainy.
“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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