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Spring Chicken, Baked

A whole spring chicken baked with salt, pepper, butter, and chopped heart, liver, and gizzard, served with gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Spring Chicken, Baked

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Pluck and singe the chicken, then wipe it with a wet towel.

  2. Split the chicken down the back and dress it without breaking the entrails.

  3. Clean and chop the heart, liver, and gizzard finely.

Bake

  1. Place the chicken in a large dripping pan, breaking the joints of the wings and legs.

  2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, sprinkle the chopped heart over it, and add the butter on top.

  3. Bake in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes, or until cooked through and nicely browned.

  4. Turn the chicken two or three times while cooking for even browning.

Serve

  1. Serve the chicken on buttered toast, pouring the gravy from the dripping pan over it.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  2. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. Chicken + livertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together383 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Butter + livertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Pepper + livertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Spring chicken
Provides the meat that is cooked through and browned in the oven.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the skin brown as it melts over the bird.
Chicken heart, liver, and gizzard
Adds concentrated savory flavor to the chopped mixture sprinkled over the bird and the gravy.

The step that matters

Turning the chicken during baking. Turning the bird two or three times exposes different sides to the dry oven heat, so it browns evenly and cooks through without scorched or pale patches.

“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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