Why it works: Chicken and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,258 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity. The science ↓
Chicken Broth
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Skim and chop the chicken into small pieces, including bones.
Make the broth
Boil the chicken with water, mace or parsley, and bread crust for 1 hour, skimming occasionally.
Strain the broth through a coarse colander.
Serve
Serve the broth poured over thin pieces of bread in a dish.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,258 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
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Mace + breadtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,005 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Chicken + macetop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,208 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Releases flavour and gelatin into the water, giving the broth its body and savoury taste.
- Water
- Acts as the liquid that extracts flavour from the chicken and bones during simmering.
- Bread crust
- Adds a subtle toasty aroma and helps lightly thicken the broth.
The step that matters
Skimming during the boil. Foam and fat rise to the surface as the chicken simmers. Skimming them off keeps the broth clear and prevents a greasy, cloudy result.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, bread):
- Garlicfits better
- Thymefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, bread. 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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