Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Fricassee Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Braise the chicken
Place the cut-up chickens in a stew pan and cover with cold water.
Cover the pan and heat very slowly for about an hour, or until tender.
For older chickens, simmer for 3 to 4 hours until tender.
Season with salt, pepper, and butter.
If desired, add a little chopped celery.
Make the gravy
Mix the flour with a little water or milk and add to the stew.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks with a small amount of cooled gravy, then stir into the hot gravy.
Let the mixture boil for one minute.
Serve
Arrange the chicken on a warm platter, pour some gravy over it, and serve the rest in a separate dish.
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.
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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,389 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Chickens
- Provide the main protein, which becomes tender through slow, moist cooking.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth gravy as its starch swells with heat.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the gravy, giving it body and a smoother, richer texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the seasoning of the stew and gravy.
The step that matters
Stirring the egg yolks into the gravy. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if they meet very hot liquid directly. Tempering them with a little cooled gravy first, then stirring gently into the hot gravy, keeps the sauce smooth. Boiling after that should be brief, since prolonged boiling can make the yolks thin or grainy.
Swap the celery
The recipe marks celery as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, butter, flour, milk, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, butter, flour, milk, egg. 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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