Why it works: Ham and truffle work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 516 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Chicken Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Pound the breast of the old hen in a marble mortar.
Add ½ cup of double cream while pounding.
Season with pepper and salt to taste.
Pass the mixture through a fine sieve.
Work in another ½ cup of cream.
Mould and steam
Garnish a plain mold with tongue or ham and truffles.
Pour in the mixture and steam very slowly for 1 hour.
Serve
Serve with truffle or mushroom sauce, or a clear brown sauce.
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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Ham + truffletop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together516 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Cream + hamtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,370 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Cream + truffletop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together629 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Pepper + hamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Old hen breast
- Provides the protein base that sets into a smooth, firm texture when gently steamed.
- Double cream
- Adds fat and moisture, keeping the set mixture soft and rich.
The step that matters
Steaming very slowly. Egg and meat proteins set when heated, and high heat or rapid steaming makes them tight and grainy. Gentle, slow heat lets the mixture set evenly into a smooth, tender texture.
“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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