Why it works: Chicken and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,902 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
Broiled Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Singe and wipe the chicken clean.
Make a cut along the back of the neck to the tail and lay the bird open.
Remove the contents, cut out the rib bones, and remove the breastbone.
Cut through the tendons at the joints.
Sprinkle the chicken with coarse sea salt.
Broil and finish
Place the chicken in a well-greased wire broiler and broil for 25 minutes over a clear fire, turning often.
If the chicken becomes dry, brush it with melted butter.
Transfer to a dripping pan, spread with soft butter, and bake for 2 minutes.
Serve with Vienna Sauce.
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.
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through as it broils over direct heat.
- Butter
- Adds moisture and richness, helping prevent dryness and promoting browning on the surface.
The step that matters
Turning and basting while broiling. Broiling over direct fire cooks the thin, opened bird quickly, so it can scorch on the outside before the inside is done. Turning often and brushing with butter when dry spreads heat evenly and keeps the meat moist.
“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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