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Maryland Chicken

A roasted chicken seasoned with sea salt and coated in crumbs, baked with butter.

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. Clean, dress, and disjoint the chicken.

  2. Sprinkle the chicken with coarse sea salt.

  3. Dip the chicken in crumbs, then in the beaten egg, and coat with crumbs again.

  4. 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.

Cook older chicken

  1. For older chicken, cook in a covered pan in a 350 °F (175 °C) oven for 4 hours, adding 1 quart of water before placing in the oven.

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
Main protein; its muscle proteins set and firm as it cooks.
Beaten egg
Binds the crumb coating to the chicken so it stays on during baking.
Crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that helps protect the meat.
Melted butter
Adds fat and flavour and helps the surface brown as it bakes.

The step that matters

Covering the pan with water for older chicken. Older birds have tougher connective tissue that needs long, moist cooking. The covered pan and added water trap steam, keeping the meat from drying out while it slowly breaks down.

“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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