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 ↓
Smothebed Chicken
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 the chicken
Clean and wash the broilers.
Split the broilers down the back.
Lay the broilers flat in a roaster, skin side down, and cover.
Bake and baste
Bake the broilers in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C).
After 5 minutes, baste the chickens well with melted butter.
Turn the chickens when the inside colors slightly.
Baste the chickens again.
When nearly done, dredge the chickens thickly with flour.
Wash the chickens with butter.
Cook the chickens until browned and the flesh is tender in the joints, about 30 minutes.
Baste the chickens frequently.
Add a little hot water to the butter once the chickens are browned.
Make the gravy and serve
Remove the chickens.
Keep the chickens warm.
Thicken the gravy with browned flour.
Boil the gravy for one minute 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).
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
- Young broilers
- Provide the meat that is cooked until tender and browned.
- Melted butter
- Adds moisture and richness to the skin and promotes browning when basted.
- Flour
- Dredged onto the chicken and browned, then used to thicken the gravy.
- Hot water
- Mixed with the butter and browned drippings to make the gravy base.
The step that matters
Dredge the chickens thickly with flour. Flour dusted near the end of cooking browns and thickens the drippings into gravy; too little or too early can leave it pasty or burnt.
“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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