Why it works: Chicken and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,958 recipes. Both carry piperonal, which smells bitter, coconut. The science ↓
Steamed Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Rub the inside of the chicken with black pepper and coarse sea salt.
Place the chicken in a steamer over boiling water and cover.
Steam and make the dressing
Steam for 1.5 hours, keeping it hot while preparing the dressing.
To make the dressing, boil the gravy from the kettle without fat.
Add cayenne pepper and coarse sea salt to the gravy.
Stir flour into cream until smooth, then add to the gravy.
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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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Chicken + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,241 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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
- Whole chicken
- Provides the meat that is cooked gently by steam until tender.
- Flour
- Thickens the gravy so the dressing becomes smooth and coats the chicken.
- Cream
- Adds richness and fat, softening the flavour and texture of the dressing.
- Gravy
- Forms the liquid base of the dressing, carrying the seasoning.
The step that matters
Stir flour into cream until smooth, then add to the gravy. Flour clumps if added dry or too quickly. Mixing it into cold cream first separates the starch grains so they hydrate evenly, giving a smooth, lump-free thickened dressing.
“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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