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Quenelle Mixture

A mixture of minced meat, butter, flour, stock, egg, and optional cream, seasoned and sieved for quenelles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Quenelle Mixture

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pound the minced chicken or beef well.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix the butter, flour, stock, and egg to create a thick sauce.

Finish the mixture

  1. Season the mixture to taste and pass it through a sieve.

  2. If using chicken, add the cream to the mixture.

  3. Combine everything thoroughly.

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

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken or beef
Provides the main protein body that sets into a light, firm mixture when cooked.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender texture.
Flour
Thickens the sauce so the mixture holds its shape.
Egg
Binds the mixture and helps it set when cooked.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness to the chicken version.

The step that matters

Pass the mixture through a sieve. Sieving breaks up fibres and lumps, giving a smooth, even texture. Skipping it or leaving the meat coarse can make the quenelles grainy and less cohesive.

“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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