Name: Chicken Pie
Ingredients: stewed chicken, large bones removed; sauce from the stewed chicken; biscuit dough or rich pastry

Why it works: Sauce and biscuit work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 197 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Chicken Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

stewed chicken, large bones removed
sauce from the stewed chicken
biscuit dough or rich pastry

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Place the stewed chicken and sauce in a baking dish, with a small inverted cup in the center.
Cover the mixture with biscuit dough or rich pastry.
Bake until the top is golden brown.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Sauce + biscuittop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together197 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Chicken + biscuittop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together332 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Chicken + saucetop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,513 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).