Why it works: Pork and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,387 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Savoury Chicken Pie
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.
Make the filling
In a saucepan, combine the fowl, pork, water, herbs, and salt.
Stew until the meat is tender.
Assemble and bake
Layer the cooked meat and sliced hard-boiled eggs in a pie dish.
Add the cooking liquid and dissolved gelatine for firmness.
Cover with pie crust and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Serve hot or cold.
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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Pork + eggtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,387 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fowl
- Provides the main meat and flavour of the filling as it stews.
- Pork
- Adds fat and moisture, keeping the stewed meat tender and juicy.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add set texture and body to the layered filling.
- Gelatine
- Sets the cooking liquid so the filling firms when cooled.
The step that matters
Add the cooking liquid and dissolved gelatine. Gelatine only firms the filling if it is fully dissolved and mixed into the warm cooking liquid before it is poured over the layers. Lumps or undissolved gelatine leave soft spots and an uneven set.
“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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