Why it works: Chicken and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,756 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-decenal, which smells green, must. The science ↓
Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Make the paste and set it aside in a cool place.
Cut the chicken into pieces as for a fricassee.
Peel and dice the potatoes and cut the ham into the same size.
Roll out half the paste into a thin sheet.
Butter the sides and bottom of a round pot.
Line the sides of the pot with the paste.
Cut the trimmings into squares.
Layer and assemble
Layer chicken, potatoes, ham, salt, and pepper in the pot, then add squares of paste.
Repeat layering with remaining chicken, potatoes, and ham.
Roll out the remaining paste.
Cut a hole in the center.
Place it on top of the last layer.
Pour about 1 quart of boiling water through the hole.
Cook
Place over low heat and simmer for 1.5 hours.
Half an hour before it's done, add 1 tablespoon of butter through the hole in the top crust.
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 + potatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,756 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Chicken + hamtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,497 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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
- Chicken
- Provides the main meat and savory flavour as it simmers into the filling.
- Potatoes
- Add starch that thickens the cooking liquid and gives the filling body.
- Flour
- Forms the paste that lines the pot and crust, giving structure to the pie.
- Ham
- Adds salty, savory flavour to the filling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, improving flavour and mouthfeel of the filling.
The step that matters
Simmering over low heat. Gentle heat lets the tough meat of an old chicken become tender without the liquid boiling away or the paste breaking apart. Too much heat can toughen the meat and make the crust tear.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, ham, pepper, butter, flour):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Leekfits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, ham, pepper, butter, flour. 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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