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Maryland Chicken

A breadcrumb‑coated chicken roasted with butter and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Maryland Chicken

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Disjoint the chicken and sprinkle it with coarse sea salt.

  2. Dip the chicken in breadcrumbs, then in the beaten egg, and coat it in breadcrumbs again.

  3. Place the chicken in a well-greased roasting pan.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 20 minutes, basting with melted butter.

  2. For older chicken, add 1 quart of water to the covered pan.

  3. For older chicken, cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 4 hours.

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

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

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Chicken + eggtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,991 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Broiler chicken
Provides the meat that is cooked through and served as the main dish.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns in the oven.
Beaten egg
Acts as a binder so the breadcrumbs adhere to the chicken.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, promoting browning and a golden surface during basting.

The step that matters

Adding water to the covered pan for older chicken. Older, tougher chicken needs long, moist cooking to soften its connective tissue. Covering the pan with water traps steam, keeping the meat moist while it becomes tender over the extended bake.

“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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