Name: Roast Chicken
Ingredients: 1 whole chicken; flour for dusting; a few slices of fat pork or 2 tablespoons of butter; 1 teaspoon of flour (for giblet gravy); gizzard and liver from the chicken; watercress for garnish

Why it works: Chicken and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,417 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Roast Chicken

Ingredients

1 whole chicken
flour for dusting
a few slices of fat pork or 2 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon of flour (for giblet gravy)
gizzard and liver from the chicken
watercress for garnish

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Dust the chicken with flour and place it in a roasting pan.
If using pork, lay slices on the breast; otherwise, place butter on the chicken.

Roast

Baste the chicken with butter using a wooden spoon, keeping it cool when not in use.
Roast for 15 minutes per pound, turning the chicken when one side is brown.
Once cooked, remove the chicken from the pan.
If using pork, pour off the fat and remove the pork.

Make the gravy and serve

Chop the gizzard and mash the liver, mixing with 1 teaspoon of flour.
Pour the giblet liquor into the mixture, stir well, and boil on the stove.
Remove string and skewers from the chicken, place it on a dish with watercress around it.
Serve the gravy in a tureen.

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.

Chicken + porktop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,417 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Flour + watercresstop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together340 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Pork + livertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,606 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
Chicken + livertop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together383 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pork + watercresstop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together318 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

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 cooks through and browns during roasting.
Flour: Dusted on the chicken to help the skin brown and the surface develop color.
Butter: Adds fat and moisture to the skin and promotes even browning when basted.
Gizzard and liver: Form the base of the giblet gravy, adding savory depth in the flavor.

“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.