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Chaudfroid of Stuffed Chicken Legs

A stew of chicken legs stuffed with mushrooms, ham, and herbs, baked in broth and sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Chaudfroid of Stuffed Chicken Legs

Oven, in the book's wordsA very moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the chicken

  1. Add chicken legs to a saucepan, leaving one-third of an onion sliced, and cover with broth.

  2. Cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven until tender, then remove.

Make the stuffing

  1. Prepare the stuffing by cooking mushrooms, onion, and ham in clarified butter until moisture evaporates.

  2. Add Sauternes and reduce, then mix in tomato puree, brown sauce, parsley, salt, and pepper.

  3. Stir in bread crumbs and bacon or melted butter to fill the chicken legs.

Assemble and bake

  1. Wrap each filled leg in two slices of bacon and secure with string.

  2. Place chopped carrot, onion, and parsley in a dish, set artichokes on top, and pour in white wine to half cover.

  3. Cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 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.

  1. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  2. Carrot + beanstop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,443 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Onion + beanstop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken legs
Provides the meat that becomes tender during slow oven cooking.
Mushrooms
Release moisture that must evaporate, concentrating their earthy flavor in the stuffing.
Sauterne
Adds sweetness and aroma as it reduces.
Tomato puree
Adds acidity, body and a deeper color to the stuffing.
Bread crumbs
Absorb cooking juices and help bind the stuffing.
Bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor as it renders around the legs.

The step that matters

Cook the mushrooms, onion and ham until the moisture evaporates. Excess liquid left in the stuffing dilutes its flavor and makes the filling soggy, so it needs to be cooked down before the bread crumbs are added.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, sauce, beans, mushroom, ham, butter):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, sauce, beans, mushroom, ham, butter. 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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