Name: Glazed Curry Chicken with Rice
Ingredients: 2 broiler-fryer chickens (4 to 5 pounds), quartered; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted; 1 cup chopped onion; 5 slices bacon, finely diced; 3 tablespoons flour; 1 tablespoon curry powder; 2 cups chicken broth; 1/4 cup orange marmalade; 2 tablespoons catsup; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 6 cups hot cooked rice

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,433 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken: Provides the main protein; baking cooks it until tender while the skin crisps.
Butter: Adds richness and helps the chicken brown during baking.
Bacon: Renders fat into the skillet that cooks the onion and adds savory, smoky flavor.
Flour: Thickens the chicken broth into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
Orange marmalade: Adds sweetness and sugars that caramelize into a glossy glaze.
Curry powder: Supplies the warm, aromatic spice flavor that defines the sauce.

The step that matters

Spoon sauce over chicken and finish baking. The sauce contains sugar from the marmalade, which can burn if the heat is too high or the pan is left unattended. Basting and watching for a deep, glossy color ensures the glaze sets without scorching.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, butter, onion, flour, lemon, rice):

Avocadofits better
Limefits better
Coconutfits better
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, butter, onion, flour, lemon, rice. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Glazed Curry Chicken with Rice