Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Chicken Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the chicken until very tender.
Reduce the chicken's gravy until it thickens to a jelly.
Remove all bones from the chicken and chop the meat.
Season the chopped meat with salt, pepper, and sage if desired.
Place the mixture into a mold.
Turn out the mold and slice the chicken cheese.
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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Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Chicken + sagetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together894 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the sage
The recipe marks sage as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper):
- Garlicfits better
- Thymefits better
- Rosemaryfits better
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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