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Fricassee of Chickens with Mushrooms

A creamy chicken and mushroom stew simmered in butter, broth, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fricassee of Chickens with Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Brown the chicken

  1. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the chicken pieces and cook until browned on all sides.

  3. Remove the chicken and set aside.

Build the sauce

  1. In the same skillet, add the mushrooms and sauté until tender.

  2. Return the chicken to the skillet and pour in the chicken broth.

  3. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

  4. Stir in the heavy cream, season with salt and pepper, and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

  5. Garnish with fresh parsley before serving.

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.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  3. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main protein, which firms as it cooks and releases flavour into the sauce.
Mushrooms
Add earthy savoury flavour and soften into the sauce as they sauté.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavour, and helps the chicken brown in the pan.
Chicken broth
Forms the liquid base that gently cooks the chicken and becomes the sauce.
Heavy cream
Adds body and a smooth, rich texture to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Simmer the chicken until cooked through. Simmering covered keeps the chicken moist, but it must reach a safe internal temperature. Stirring in cream near the end, rather than boiling it hard, helps prevent the sauce from splitting.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, mushroom, butter, cream, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, mushroom, butter, cream, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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