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To Broil Spring Chicken

A spring chicken roasted over an open fire, seasoned with salt, pepper, and melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,902 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

To Broil Spring Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Split the chicken down the back and wipe it dry.

  2. Spread the chicken out and break the breastbone.

Grill and serve

  1. Place the chicken on a grill over a clear fire.

  2. Turn the chicken often to prevent scorching.

  3. When half cooked, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  4. Once thoroughly cooked, serve on a hot dish with melted butter.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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 + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  2. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Spring chicken
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through over direct heat to become tender.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, moistening the cooked meat as it is served.

The step that matters

Turn the chicken often to prevent scorching. Over a clear, hot fire the skin and surface sugars brown quickly and can burn before the thick meat inside is cooked. Frequent turning spreads the heat evenly so the outside browns without charring while the interior cooks through.

“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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