Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Fried Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Cut up the chickens and soak them in cold water to extract the blood.
Wipe the chickens dry and season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Dredge the chickens with flour.
Fry and make the gravy
Fry the chickens in lard until both sides are a rich brown.
Remove the chickens from the pan and keep them warm near the fire.
Skim the gravy from the pan and mix it with 1 pint of cream.
Season the gravy with a little mace, pepper, and coarse sea salt, then add some chopped parsley.
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.
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Mace + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,268 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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
- Chicken
- Forms the main body of the dish; frying cooks the meat through while the outside browns.
- Flour
- Coats the chicken so the surface browns and crisps in the hot fat.
- Lard
- Fries the coating, conducting heat evenly and browning the chicken surface.
- Cream
- Enriches the pan gravy, adding fat and a smooth, mellow texture.
The step that matters
Frying until both sides are a rich brown. Fat must be hot enough to brown the floured coating quickly. If the heat is too low, the chicken absorbs grease and turns soggy instead of crisp, and the interior may not cook through before the surface colours.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, flour, cream, parsley):
- Tarragonfits better
- Thymefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, flour, cream, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
More fried chicken recipes
You might also like
Chicken Broth257 recipes
Chicken Soup156 recipes
Creamed Chicken89 recipes
Chicken Panada75 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.