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Jellied Chicken

A dish of boiled chicken set in gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Chicken and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and 13,902 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Jellied Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the chicken

  1. Boil the chicken until the meat easily separates from the bones.

  2. Reduce the cooking water to about 1 pint while boiling.

Prepare the jelly

  1. Remove the meat from the bones in good-sized pieces, discarding gristle, fat, and bones.

  2. Place the chicken pieces in a wet mold.

  3. Skim the fat from the cooking liquid.

  4. Add butter, salt, and pepper to the cooking liquid.

  5. Dissolve the gelatin in the hot liquid and pour it over the chicken in the mold.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together13,902 recipes

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

  2. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Chicken + gelatintop 30% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together137 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

  5. Gelatin + buttertop 33% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together311 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the meat that is set in place within the jelly.
Gelatin
Sets the cooking liquid into a firm jelly once it cools.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the seasoned cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Dissolve the gelatin in the hot liquid. Gelatin must fully dissolve in hot liquid before pouring; undissolved granules leave gritty spots, and the liquid must set evenly as it cools to form a clear, firm jelly.

“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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