Skip to main content

Braised Chicken with Tangerine and Star Anise

In this recipe, star anise imparts a spicy licorice flavor and aroma, with sweet hints of cinnamon and cloves. Tangerine zest and juice add a sweet-tart element, cutting through the richness of the chicken thighs. Be sure to remove and discard the whole star anise before serving the dish.

By williamssonoma · From Open Recipes · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sauce and star anise work together. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and 72 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4.

Ingredients

Contains: wheat, peanut, soy (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By williamssonoma. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Sauce + star anisetop 18% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together72 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Ginger + star anisetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together229 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Chicken + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together10,839 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  5. Chicken + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,808 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tangerine, chicken, pepper, peanut oil, garlic, ginger, sauce):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Tomatoabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tangerine, chicken, pepper, peanut oil, garlic, ginger, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).