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Broiled Chicken

A whole chicken seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter, broiled until browned.

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 ↓

Broiled Chicken

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Prepare the chicken for broiling by dressing it.

  2. Sprinkle the chicken with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Broil

  1. Grease a broiler and place the chicken inside.

  2. Broil for 20 minutes over a clear fire, turning to brown all sides evenly.

  3. Ensure the flesh side is exposed to the fire most of the time.

Partially bake and finish

  1. To prevent burning, partially cook the chicken in the oven first.

  2. Place the chicken skin side down in a baking dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dot with butter.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 15 minutes, then finish by broiling.

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

Whole chicken
Provides the main protein, which browns and sets as its surface is exposed to direct heat.
Butter
Adds fat and moisture to the skin, helping it brown richly and stay tender.

The step that matters

Partially bake before broiling. Broiling directly is fast and intense, so the surface can scorch before the thick interior cooks through. Starting in a moderate oven cooks the inside more gently, and the final broil then browns the skin without burning it.

“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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