Name: Maryland Chicken
Ingredients: 1 young chicken; seasoned flour; 1 egg; crumbs; fat bacon slices; 2 tablespoons flour; 1 cup thin cream

Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Maryland Chicken

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the chicken

Joint the chicken and roll the pieces in seasoned flour.
Dip the floured chicken in the egg, then coat with crumbs.

Bake and serve

Place the chicken in a dripping pan and top each piece with a thin slice of bacon.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes, removing the bacon to a platter when crisp.
Arrange the chicken with the bacon.
Thicken the fat in the pan with 2 tablespoons of flour.
Add 1 cup of thin cream and blend thoroughly, then strain over the chicken.

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.

Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Chicken + creamtop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,241 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together42,166 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Chicken + flourtop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together10,559 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Young chicken: Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through in the oven while its coating crisps.
Egg: Acts as a binder so the crumbs adhere to the floured chicken.
Bacon slices: Fat from the bacon renders over the chicken, adding flavour and crispness.
Flour: Thickens the pan fat and cream into a smooth sauce.
Thin cream: Adds richness and body to the pan sauce.

“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.