Name: Chicken Cream
Ingredients: ½ lb raw chicken, boneless and skinless; ½ pint thick Bechamel sauce; ¼ pint double cream; 1 egg; salt to taste; pepper to taste

Why it works: Sauce and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,787 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Chicken Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

Finely chop the chicken meat.
Pound the chicken in a mortar until smooth, gradually adding the egg and Bechamel sauce.
Pass the mixture through a wire sieve.
Whip the cream until stiff and gently fold it into the chicken mixture.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mould and steam

Pour the mixture into one large or six to seven small buttered molds.
Steam gently for 25 to 30 minutes until firm.

Serve

Serve with Bechamel or another suitable sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,787 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,958 recipes

Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Chicken + saucetop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,513 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together21,449 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Chicken + creamtop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,241 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

Chicken: Forms the bulk of the mixture and sets firm when gently steamed.
Egg: Binds the chicken so the mixture holds its shape after steaming.
Bechamel sauce: Adds moisture and richness, keeping the mousse-like texture tender.
Double cream: Whipped and folded in to add lightness and a smooth, rich texture.