Skip to main content

Chicken with Chanterelle Mushrooms and Marsala Wine

"A fortunate mistake in forgetting to marinate the chicken in additional ingredients made me come up with this last-minute preparation. It's chanterelle season in Oregon, and I love to use this wild mushroom as often as I can in the fall."

Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Flour and chanterelle share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 32 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

2 chicken breast halves
Prep15 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Mix the flour, paprika, a pinch of salt and black pepper on a plate. Pat the chicken breast halves dry and coat both sides in the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess.

  2. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken 5 to 6 minutes per side until golden brown.

  3. Continue cooking the chicken, covered, over medium-low heat for 5 to 8 minutes, until the thickest part reaches 165°F (74°C). Transfer to a plate and keep warm.

  4. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced chanterelles and cook 5 to 6 minutes, stirring, until they release their liquid and turn golden.

  5. Pour in the Marsala wine and simmer 2 minutes, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

  6. Add the chicken broth and crushed dried tarragon and simmer 5 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

  7. Return the chicken and any juices to the pan, spoon the sauce over it, and warm through for 1 to 2 minutes before serving.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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. Flour + chanterelletop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together32 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Chicken + mushroomtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together12,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Mushroom + winetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,509 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  5. Pepper + tarragontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,691 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the tarragon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, chicken, butter, chanterelle, mushroom, pepper, wine):

  1. Thymebetter flavor fit
  2. Garlicabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Rosemaryabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Tarragonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, chicken, butter, chanterelle, mushroom, pepper, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).