Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Stewed Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the chicken
Cover chicken pieces with boiling water and boil for 5 minutes.
Reduce heat and cook below boiling point until tender.
After the first half-hour, add 14 tablespoons of coarse sea salt.
Make the sauce
Drain the stock from the chicken and measure it.
Make up to the required amount with milk or water.
Blend flour with cold water and add to the stock slowly.
Stir and cook until thickened.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add the beaten egg yolks and cook for 1 minute.
Add parsley.
Serve
Arrange chicken on a platter and pour the sauce over it.
Garnish and serve with hot tea biscuits, toast points, molded steamed rice, or dumplings.
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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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).
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Chicken + parsleytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,314 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Provides the main protein, which becomes tender as it cooks slowly below boiling.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock into a smooth sauce as its starch swells when heated.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the sauce and add body and richness as they cook gently.
- Chicken stock
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, carrying flavor from the chicken.
The step that matters
Adding the flour mixture to the stock. Flour mixed with cold water and added slowly disperses evenly; adding it all at once or to hot liquid clumps. Stir while cooking so starch swells into a smooth, thickened sauce.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, flour, pepper, egg):
- Turmericfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, flour, pepper, 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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