Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 4,172 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓
Bouchees a LA Reine
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Prepare small molds or cut puff pastry into shapes to form caisses.
Make the filling
In a saucepan, heat a white sauce.
Add the minced chicken, ham, mushrooms, and truffle to the sauce.
Once hot, stir in the cream and then the egg yolks.
Bake and serve
Fill the caisses with the mixture and bake until golden.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,172 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
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Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,900 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
-
Ham + truffletop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together516 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Chicken + truffletop 13% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together756 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Chicken + hamtop 14% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,497 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Minced chicken
- Provides the main body and bulk of the savory filling.
- Ham
- Adds salty, savory flavor that complements the chicken.
- Mushrooms
- Contribute earthy flavor and moisture to the filling.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture to the sauce.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling as they set and add richness to the mixture.
- Puff pastry
- Forms the crisp, flaky caisses that hold the filling and brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Stir in the egg yolks off the heat. Egg yolks begin to set around 65°C (150°F). If the filling is too hot when they go in, they can scramble and turn grainy, so add them once the mixture is hot but no longer boiling.
“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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