Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓
Creamed Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a chafing dish.
Gradually stir in the flour.
Slowly add the cream while stirring.
Finish and serve
Add the chicken and seasoning, then let simmer until the chicken is thoroughly heated.
Stir in the beaten egg yolks and serve immediately.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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
- Butter
- Enriches the base and carries flavor while forming the start of the sauce.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the cream into a smooth sauce as it cooks.
- Heavy cream
- Forms the body of the sauce and gives it a rich, smooth texture.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and further thicken the sauce when stirred in.
- Cooked chicken
- Provides the main protein and substance of the dish.
The step that matters
Stirring in the beaten egg yolks. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if the sauce is too hot. Keeping the sauce warm rather than boiling, and stirring steadily, lets the yolks thicken it smoothly.
“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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