Fried Chicken

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together34,122 recipes

   Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

2. Pork + chickentop 2% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together5,417 recipes

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

3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together41,516 recipes

   Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

5. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together16,675 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 meat, which browns in the fat to form a crisp crust.

Flour

Dredging coats the chicken and helps form a browned crust; it also thickens the cream sauce.

Cream or rich milk

Adds fat and richness, and with the flour and butter forms a thickened, smooth sauce.

Salt pork

Its rendered fat gives the chicken flavor and fries it to a golden brown.

Butter

Adds richness and flavor to the sauce and helps thicken it with the flour.

The step that matters

Swap the parsley

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

1. Garlicfits about as well
2. Thymefits about as well
3. Nutmegfits about as well
4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, chicken, pepper, flour, cream, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.