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
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Split the chicken down the back and wash it thoroughly.
Wipe the chicken dry and place it on a buttered grill.
Ensure the fire is clear and bright with no smoke.
Broil and serve
Cover the chicken with a deep plate or pan and broil until cooked through, turning several times to prevent charring.
Once done, place the chicken on a heated platter, add plenty of sweet butter, season to taste, and serve immediately.
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.
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through to tender meat under the heat.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and helps keep the chicken from sticking to the grill.
The step that matters
Turning the chicken while it broils. Turning several times over the heat spreads cooking evenly and prevents the outside from charring before the inside is cooked 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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