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Broiled Chicken

A whole chicken is flattened, grilled, buttered, seasoned, and served with stewed mushrooms.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Broiled Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the chicken as for boiling.

  2. Cut it in half through the back, then flatten it.

Grill

  1. Place the chicken on a cold grill over a medium fire.

  2. Transfer to a plate and lard with butter.

  3. Season the inside with salt and pepper to taste.

  4. Return to the grill and turn until fully cooked, about 20 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve hot.

  2. Add a dab of butter and plenty of stewed mushrooms.

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 + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

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

  5. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

What each ingredient does

Whole chicken
Forms the main protein, cooked through over the grill fire.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, keeping the meat moist as it cooks.
Stewed mushrooms
Adds moisture and savoury flavour to the finished plate.

The step that matters

Return to the grill and turn until fully cooked. Chicken must reach a safe internal temperature throughout. Cutting it flat helps even heat penetration, but thick areas can stay undercooked while the outside browns, so check the thickest parts before serving.

“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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