Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fowl, Hashed
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Divide the fowl into convenient joints.
If stock is not available, simmer the bones and trimmings in water for at least 1 hour, adding flavoring vegetables.
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a pan, then fry the flour until lightly browned.
Add the stock to the pan and stir until boiling.
Season with salt and pepper, then add the pieces of fowl.
Simmer and serve
Let the stewpan simmer for at least 30 minutes, keeping it hot without boiling.
Serve with the sauce strained over the fowl.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Remains of cold roast fowl
- Forms the main body of the hash and supplies the meat that absorbs the sauce.
- Stock
- Provides the liquid base that becomes the sauce and carries flavour through the dish.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries the flour so it can cook into a smooth base.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock into a sauce once fried in butter and cooked through.
The step that matters
Frying the flour in butter. Flour must cook until lightly browned to lose its raw taste and to thicken smoothly; stirring constantly prevents lumps and scorching.
“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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