Skip to main content
Main

Fricassee of Chicken, Cauliflower, Boiled, Allemand Sauce

A stew of boiled chicken and cauliflower in a butter, flour, and broth sauce, garnished with parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fricassee of Chicken, Cauliflower, Boiled, Allemand Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the chicken and cauliflower

  1. In a large pot, boil the chicken pieces until cooked through. Remove and set aside.

  2. In the same pot, add the cauliflower florets and cook until tender. Drain and set aside.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux.

  2. Gradually add the chicken broth, stirring until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Combine the chicken and cauliflower in the skillet, coating with the sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley before serving.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Cauliflower + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together233 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Cauliflower + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,113 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Cauliflower + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together569 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 and savory flavor of the dish.
Cauliflower
Adds bulk and a mild, tender vegetable texture to the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor, and with flour forms the roux base.
Flour
Thickens the broth into a smooth sauce when cooked with the butter.
Chicken broth
Forms the liquid of the sauce and adds savory flavor.

The step that matters

Cooking the roux before adding the broth. Flour must be cooked in the melted butter so its starch swells evenly when liquid is added. Adding broth too fast or without stirring can leave lumps and a floury taste.

Swap the cauliflower

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, flour, pepper, parsley. 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.

You might also like

Chicken BrothChicken Broth257 recipesChicken SoupChicken Soup156 recipesCreamed ChickenCreamed Chicken89 recipesChicken PanadaChicken Panada75 recipes