Why it works: Butter and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
To Broil Birds
Ingredients
Directions
Dress the birds and split them open in the back.
Soak the birds in salt water for a while.
Melt some butter in a pan and dry the birds with a cloth.
Dip the birds in melted butter.
Place them on a grill over a clear fire.
Brown one side, then turn to brown the other side until golden brown.
Transfer to plates, add small pieces of butter and pepper on top.
Cover closely and place in the oven for a few minutes before serving.
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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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
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