Why it works: Flour and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,559 recipes. Both carry acetaldehyde, which smells pungent, ethereal. The science ↓
To Boil Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Boil a well-grown chicken.
If the chicken is tough, add 1 tablespoon vinegar to the water to tenderize.
Sometimes steaming old chickens makes them tender.
If serving the chicken whole, stuff it with bread dressing and tie it into shape.
Cover the chicken with boiling water, add vinegar and 1 tablespoon salt.
Make the sauce and serve
When the chicken is tender, serve it with a sauce made from 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1 cup chicken broth.
Finely cut the giblets and add them to the sauce.
Put the chicken into the oven to brown it if desired.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Chicken | 100g cooked | 165 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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 + chickentop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,559 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
-
Vinegar + flourtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,652 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Vinegar + chickentop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,344 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Flour and chicken barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,559 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
- Provides the main protein; long simmering in water softens its connective tissue.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and broth into a smooth sauce.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds fat and richness to the sauce.
- Chicken broth
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding savory flavor.
The step that matters
Cover the chicken with boiling water. Starting in boiling water helps the surface set quickly, while gentle simmering afterward keeps the meat tender rather than tough and dry.
“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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