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 ↓
Broiled Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove all feathers and singe the chicken over the fire.
Wipe the chicken with a wet towel.
Split the chicken down the back and remove the entrails.
Lay the chicken open on a well-buttered double gridiron.
If the chicken is not tender, break the joints to lie flat.
Broil and season
Broil the inside first for 15-20 minutes, keeping it away from the fire.
Once browned, turn the chicken and broil the outside for about 10 minutes.
Season with salt, pepper, and butter after removing from the heat.
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.
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Forms the main body of the dish; its tenderness determines whether the joints need breaking to lie flat.
- Butter
- Coats the gridiron and adds moisture and richness to the meat during broiling.
The step that matters
Broil the inside first, away from the fire. Keeping the chicken away from direct heat lets the thick inside cook through gently before the outside browns. Placing it too close risks scorching the surface while the centre stays underdone.
“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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