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Chicken Cream

A steamed chicken custard made with cream, milk, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Chicken Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut and pound the chicken breast in a mortar, then pass it through a fine sieve.

  2. In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, butter, mace, salt, cayenne, and lemon rind.

  3. Pour boiling milk over the mixture.

  4. Let the mixture cool.

Mould and steam

  1. Once cool, add the chicken, whipped cream, and beaten egg whites.

  2. Pour the mixture into a well-greased mold.

  3. Steam for 35 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve with a white sauce made with cream and garnish with peas, asparagus, mushrooms, or truffles.

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 + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken breast
Provides the main protein structure that sets the body of the steamed mixture.
Egg whites
Trap air and set when steamed, giving the mixture lift and a light, firm texture.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the boiling milk and add body, helping the mixture hold together as it cooks.
Whipped cream
Adds fat and moisture, keeping the steamed mixture tender and rich.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, contributing to a soft texture and flavour.

The step that matters

Pour the mixture into a well-greased mold. Egg whites and cream set into a delicate custard-like body, so a thoroughly greased mold helps the steamed cake release cleanly without tearing or sticking.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, bread, butter, pepper, lemon, milk, cream. 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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