Name: Blanc to Boil Chickens in
Ingredients: 1 lb veal, cut into small pieces; 1 lb fat bacon, cut into small pieces; 1 lb butter; 1 clove; 1 bay leaf; 1 bundle of sweet herbs; 1 shallot; 1 whole chicken

Why it works: Clove and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,677 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Blanc to Boil Chickens in

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

Combine veal, bacon, and butter in a stewpan without browning.
Pour boiling water over the meat while it is still white.
Add clove, bay leaf, sweet herbs, and shallot.
Stew until sufficiently cooked.

Finish the chicken

Strain the liquid through a fine sieve over the chicken.
Simmer the chicken in the strained liquid for 30 minutes.

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.

Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,677 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Veal + chickentop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,243 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).
Butter + chickentop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,902 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Butter + shallottop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Shallot + chickentop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together731 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal: Gives the stock body and a rich, savory flavor as it stews.
Fat bacon: Adds fat and savory depth to the stock.
Butter: Contributes richness and fat that carries flavor into the liquid.
Shallot: Adds a mild aromatic sweetness to the stock.

The step that matters

Keep the meat white. Combining the meat and butter without browning keeps the flavor and color mild, which suits a white boiled dish. Browning would add roasted, deeper flavors and a darker color that the recipe does not want.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, shallot, chicken):

Capersfits better
Tarragonfits better
Thymefits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, shallot, chicken. 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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Blanc to Boil Chickens in