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Stewed Fowls

A stew of fowl pieces with mushrooms, tomatoes, stock, onions, carrots, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Stewed Fowls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare and cut the fowl into joints.

Make the stew

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

  2. Fry the sliced carrot and onion for 5 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon.

  3. Add the fowl pieces, season with salt and pepper.

  4. Dredge in the flour and mix thoroughly with the butter.

  5. Gradually add the stock and chopped tomatoes in three intervals, stirring well.

  6. Allow the mixture to come slowly to a boil.

  7. Skim off any foam and reduce to a simmer.

  8. Add the sliced mushrooms and chopped parsley.

  9. Bring to a boil again, then simmer for 15 minutes.

  10. Skim, baste, and serve.

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

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

  2. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Tomato + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Mushroom + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Fowl or chicken
Provides the meat, which becomes tender as it simmers slowly in the liquid.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a light sauce as it combines with the butter and stock.
Stock
Forms the cooking liquid that moistens the meat and builds the body of the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat for frying and carries flavour into the flour and onion base.
Onion
Adds savoury sweetness and aroma when softened in the butter.
Mushrooms
Contribute earthy savour and a soft texture to the finished stew.

The step that matters

Gradually add the stock and chopped tomatoes in three intervals, stirring well.. Adding liquid in portions while stirring keeps the flour smoothly dispersed, preventing lumps and giving an even, glossy sauce.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, mushroom, tomato, butter, carrot, flour, 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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