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Fried Chicken

Fried chicken pieces are seared in butter, then simmered in water to make a gravy thickened with flour and finished with cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Fried Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and sear

  1. Dredge the chicken pieces in flour, then season with salt and pepper.

  2. Heat the butter in a fry‑pan and sear the chicken on both sides.

Simmer and finish

  1. Add enough water to cover the chicken and cover the pan tightly.

  2. Simmer slowly on the back of the stove, turning the chicken occasionally.

  3. Cook until golden brown on both sides, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

  4. For the gravy, add water to the pan, thicken with flour, and season with salt, pepper, and a little cream.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  5. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Coats the chicken so it browns and forms a crisp crust, then thickens the gravy.
Butter
Adds fat for searing the chicken and gives a rich, browned flavor.
Chicken
Provides the main protein that cooks through during covered simmering.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth body to the gravy.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly with the pan covered. Gentle, covered simmering cooks the chicken through and keeps it moist, while the lid traps steam. Turning the pieces helps them brown evenly. Too much heat can dry the meat or scorch the bottom of the pan.

“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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