Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Chicken Pates
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the filling
In a saucepan, bring the milk to a boil and stir in the corn starch to thicken.
Add the minced chicken, butter, salt, and pepper to the thickened milk and mix well.
Bake and fill
Line small pâté pans with puff pastry.
Bake the pastry in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until lightly browned.
Fill the baked pastry with the chicken mixture and return to the oven for a few minutes to brown slightly.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Chicken + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,666 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,389 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cooked chicken
- Forms the main body of the filling and gives it its meaty texture.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base that the corn starch thickens into a smooth, creamy binder.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the hot milk, giving the filling body so it holds together when baked.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richer flavour and a softer, moister mouthfeel in the filling.
- Puff pastry
- Forms the flaky, layered shell that crisps and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Thicken the milk fully before adding the chicken. Corn starch only thickens once the milk is hot enough to gelatinize its starch. If the milk is not brought to a boil and stirred until it thickens, the filling stays thin and runny and will not hold its shape in the pastry.
“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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