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 ↓
Broiled Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Singe the chicken.
Split the chicken down the back.
Clean the chicken by wiping it with a damp cloth.
Rub the inside and outside with a little butter.
Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
Broil
Arrange the chicken on a greased wire broiler with the flesh side facing the fire.
Move the chicken a little farther from the fire.
Turn the chicken occasionally on the skin side, being careful not to scorch it.
Cook the chicken for 15 to 20 minutes until well done to avoid toughness.
Serve
Transfer the chicken to a hot platter.
Rub the chicken again with butter.
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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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Provides the main protein; cooking it fully until well done keeps the meat tender rather than tough.
- Butter
- Adds fat and moisture to the skin and flesh, helping it brown and stay juicy under heat.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the meat and draws out surface moisture, aiding browning of the skin.
The step that matters
Turning the chicken on the skin side without scorching it. The skin browns quickly under the direct heat of a broiler. Moving the bird farther from the fire and turning it occasionally lets the inside cook through while the skin browns evenly instead of burning.
“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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