Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Boiled Chickens
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and cook
Sew the chicken in thin muslin or tarlatan, fitting it closely to the shape.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt.
Add the chicken to the boiling water and cook for 12 minutes per pound.
If unsure about tenderness, cook longer and at a lower temperature.
Make the sauce and serve
Once cooked, place the chicken on a heated dish.
In a separate bowl, mix the pot liquor with flour and butter to thicken.
Stir in the beaten egg and chopped parsley into the drawn butter.
Pour the drawn butter over the chicken before serving.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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, cooked gently in simmering water until tender.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the sauce poured over the chicken.
- Egg
- Beaten into the drawn butter to enrich and help thicken the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the pot liquor and butter mixture into a smooth sauce.
The step that matters
Judging tenderness. Poultry cooked too briefly stays tough and may be unsafe, while overcooking dries the meat; the record advises cooking longer at a lower temperature when unsure. Gentle heat keeps the muscle fibres moist and tender.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, butter, egg, flour):
- Capersfits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, egg, flour. 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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