Why it works: Chicken and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,375 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Clean and truss the chickens as for roasting.
Dredge the chickens with salt, pepper, and flour.
Lay half of the pork in the bottom of a stewpan that fits in the oven.
Add the carrot and onion with the pork, and stir over heat until beginning to brown.
Place the chickens in the pan and cover with the remaining pork.
Braise
Cover the saucepan tightly and set it in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 20 minutes.
Add the boiling broth or water and the bunch of herbs, then dredge with flour.
Cover again and return to the oven.
After 1 hour, turn the chickens over.
Cook for a total of about 2 hours in the oven.
Serve
Dish the chickens.
Keep warm while boiling down the gravy briskly.
Skim, strain, and pour the gravy over the chickens.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Chicken + porktop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,375 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Pepper + carrottop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Chicken + oniontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,808 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Carrot + oniontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together21,599 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + oniontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together18,199 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chickens
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender through slow braising in moist heat.
- Salt pork
- Renders fat that flavours the chickens and the gravy as it cooks.
- Flour
- Dredged on the chickens and added to the braise, it thickens the gravy.
- Carrot
- Sweetness and aromatic flavour that builds the base of the gravy.
- Onion
- Aromatic flavour that deepens as it browns in the rendered pork fat.
- Broth or water
- Provides moisture for the braise, which is reduced to make the gravy.
The step that matters
Boiling down the gravy briskly. Reducing the liquid concentrates its flavour and body, while a gentle simmer would leave the gravy thin and weak.
Flavor stand-ins for the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, pork, flour, onion):
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Tomatoabout as good a flavor fit
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, pork, flour, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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