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Chicken with Asparagus

A simple chicken and asparagus dish simmered in butter and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,968 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chicken with Asparagus

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and brown

  1. Cut the chicken into six or eight parts and season with salt.

  2. Melt the butter in a pot until it starts to bubble.

  3. Add the chicken pieces and some pepper, turning them once.

Simmer and finish

  1. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil.

  2. Add the tips of the asparagus and boil for five minutes.

  3. Transfer the covered pot into the Caloric for cooking.

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. Asparagus + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,968 recipes

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

  2. Chicken + asparagustop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  5. Butter + asparagustop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,026 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

Young chicken
Provides the main protein and structure of the dish, becoming tender as it simmers.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and browns the chicken pieces when melted in the pot.
Stock
Supplies the cooking liquid that keeps the chicken moist and carries flavor.
Asparagus
Adds a tender-crisp texture and fresh, green flavor to the finished dish.

The step that matters

Boiling the asparagus tips. Asparagus cooks quickly, and five minutes of boiling can turn the tips dull and soft. Watching the time keeps them tender with some bite.

Swap the asparagus

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Onionfits better
  4. Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, pepper. 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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