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Chicken Curry

A chicken curry made with butter, onions, tomatoes, milk, cayenne pepper, curry powder, and cornstarch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Chicken Curry

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Chicken Curry

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pan, melt the butter and fry the onions until brown, but do not burn them.

  2. Add the chicken pieces and cook until browned.

  3. Add the tomatoes and cayenne pepper, cover tightly, and simmer gently for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

  4. Stir in the milk and bring to a boil.

  5. Mix the curry powder and cornstarch with a little cold water, then stir it into the boiling sauce.

  6. Boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and serve.

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.

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Chicken + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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; browning it first adds savory flavor to the sauce.
Onions
Frying until brown builds sweetness and savory depth as the base of the sauce.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture that simmer into the body of the sauce.
Butter
Carries the onions' browning and adds richness to the sauce.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mellows the sauce's sharp spice.
Cornstarch
Thickens the boiling sauce so it clings to the chicken.

The step that matters

Stirring in the curry powder and cornstarch slurry. Cornstarch must be mixed with cold water first and stirred into boiling liquid so it disperses evenly. Added dry or lumpy, it clumps and the sauce thickens unevenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, tomato, butter, milk, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, tomato, butter, milk, pepper. 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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