Why it works: Chicken and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,888 recipes. Both carry acetic acid hexyl ester, which smells sweet, green. The science ↓
Stuffed Chicken or Turkey Legs
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare and stuff
Remove the tendons and bone from the drumsticks.
Stuff the legs with force meat and sew the skin securely to maintain shape.
Poach and cool
Place the legs in a baking pan.
Cover with boiling water.
Simmer in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour and 15 minutes until tender.
Remove from water and let cool.
Take out the stitches.
Coat and fry
Roll the legs in beaten egg.
Roll the legs in seasoned fine bread crumbs.
Roll the legs again in egg.
Fry in deep oil for 1 minute until golden brown.
Serve with your choice of sauce.
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 + olivetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,888 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).
-
Bread + olivetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,091 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Chicken + meattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,449 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,258 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken or turkey legs
- Provide the meat that is stuffed, cooked until tender and fried.
- Force meat
- Fills the legs, adding moistness and body inside the cooked meat.
- Egg
- Acts as a binder so the bread crumbs stick to the legs.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating when fried.
The step that matters
Frying the coated legs. Frying for only 1 minute is enough to brown the coating because the legs are already cooked through. Oil that is too cool lets the crumbs absorb grease and turn soggy, while oil that is too hot can darken the coating before it heats through.
“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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