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 ↓
Maryland Chicken with Corn Dodgers
Ingredients
Directions
Fry the chicken
Clean and joint the chickens as for fricassee.
Heat lard in a frying pan until boiling.
Wipe the chicken pieces and drop them into the boiling lard.
Fry until well browned and cooked through, about 15 to 25 minutes.
Remove cooked chicken to a hot dish.
Make the cream gravy
Pour off excess lard, leaving any chicken gravy in the pan.
Add 1 cup of cream to the pan and dredge in a little flour.
Stir and bring to a boil, then let it boil for 3 minutes.
Season with pepper and salt, then pour over the chicken.
Garnish with finely chopped parsley.
Make the corn dodgers and serve
Cut the cold cornmeal mush into ½ inch thick slices, then into diamond shapes.
Dip the pieces lightly in egg, cover with flour, and fry in butter.
Garnish the platter edge with corn dodgers and serve.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Chicken + parsleytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,314 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Chickens
- Provides the meat that is browned in hot fat and cooked through.
- Lard
- Hot fat that browns the chicken and crisps its skin and coating.
- Cream
- Adds richness and body to the pan gravy as it reduces.
- Flour
- Thickens the gravy and forms a light coating that browns when fried.
- Egg
- Binds the flour coating to the cornmeal pieces so it sticks during frying.
- Cornmeal mush
- Firm when cold, so it holds its shape when sliced and fries to a crisp exterior.
The step that matters
Frying the chicken in boiling lard. The fat must be hot enough to brown the surface quickly and seal in juices. If it is too cool, the chicken absorbs grease and turns soggy; if too hot, the outside burns before the centre cooks through.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, cream, pepper, flour, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Turmericfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cream, pepper, flour, egg. 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.
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