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Fricassee of Chickens

A stew of chicken joints in a butter‑flour‑milk gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Fricassee of Chickens

Ingredients

Directions

Stew the chicken

  1. In a pot, stew the chicken joints in water or stock with herbs and seasoning until tender.

  2. Remove the chicken joints and strain the stock.

Make the gravy

  1. Thicken the stock with flour and add butter.

  2. Return the chicken to the gravy and bring to a boil.

  3. Before serving, stir in the milk and egg yolk mixture, but do not let it boil.

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.

  1. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Flour + marjoramtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,265 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender through slow stewing in liquid.
Flour
Thickens the stock into a smooth gravy as its starch swells with heat.
Egg yolk
Enriches and thickens the sauce when stirred in gently, adding richness and body.
Butter
Adds fat and rich flavour to the gravy, giving it a smooth mouthfeel.
Milk or cream
Adds creaminess and mildness, softening the gravy's savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Adding the milk and egg yolk. Egg yolk thickens by coagulating when warm, but if the sauce boils it can curdle and turn grainy. Keep it just below boiling once the yolk and milk go in.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, butter, milk, egg, flour, marjoram, thyme):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Sagefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, milk, egg, flour, marjoram, thyme. 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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