Name: Fricassee of Fowls
Ingredients: fowls (chickens); mace; lemon zest; white pepper; coarse sea salt; onion; carrot

Why it works: Onion and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fricassee of Fowls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and truss the chickens.
Boil the chickens, then skim the surface.
Simmer in a vegetable braise seasoned with mace, lemon zest, white pepper, coarse sea salt, onion, and carrot.
If using a small chicken, simmer for 12 to 15 minutes.

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.

Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Lemon + carrottop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,351 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,695 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Mace + carrottop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,592 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Fowls (chickens): Provide the main protein, which becomes tender and moist as it simmers slowly in the braise.
Onion: Adds savory sweetness and aromatic depth to the braising liquid.
Carrot: Adds gentle sweetness and body to the braising liquid.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, mace, lemon, onion, carrot):

Thymefits better
Parsleyfits better
Marjoramfits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, mace, lemon, onion, carrot. 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.