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Soy Sauce Chicken

Chicken parts braised in soy sauce, cooking wine, ginger, sugar, and water with green onions.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,814 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓

Soy Sauce Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Fry the chicken parts in a pan with green onions and oil until the outside of the chicken parts are brown.

  2. Add soy sauce, cooking wine, chopped ginger, and sugar.

  3. Add enough water to cover the chicken.

  4. Simmer, uncovered, over low heat until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

413Calories
33 gProtein
17 gFat
25 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

  1. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

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

  2. Onion + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Chicken + gingertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,494 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Ginger + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ginger and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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

Chicken parts
Provide the main protein; browning them first builds savory flavor on the surface.
Soy sauce
Adds salty, savory flavor and deepens the color of the sauce as it reduces.
Sugar
Balances saltiness and helps the sauce brown and become glossy as it reduces.
Cooking wine
Adds aromatic depth and helps carry the flavors of ginger and onion into the chicken.

The step that matters

Simmer uncovered until most of the liquid has evaporated. Reducing concentrates the soy and sugar into a glossy, flavorful sauce that clings to the chicken. Cooking covered would leave a thin, diluted liquid instead.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, sauce, wine, ginger, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, sauce, wine, ginger, sugar. 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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