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Chicken Cream

A steamed chicken or veal dish mixed with egg, cream, and stock, served in buttered molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Chicken Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Pound the chicken or veal in a mortar.

  2. Add the whole egg and season with salt and pepper.

  3. Rub the mixture through a sieve.

  4. Stir in half of the whipped egg white and the whipped cream.

Steam and serve

  1. Place the mixture in small buttered molds.

  2. Steam gently for about 15 minutes.

  3. Serve with a nice white 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.

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

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  4. Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,389 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  5. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken or veal
Forms the main body of the cream, giving it its delicate, mousse-like base.
Egg
Binds the mixture and helps it set firm when steamed.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture.
Whipped egg white
Adds air, lightening the texture so the cream steams up soft.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the cream tender rather than dry.

The step that matters

Steam gently. High heat or boiling water can make egg proteins tighten too quickly, causing a rubbery, curdled or porous texture. Gentle steam sets the mixture slowly and evenly, keeping it smooth and tender.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Cinnamonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, butter, cream, milk, 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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