Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Broiled Chickens
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Split the chickens down the back and flatten them.
Wipe the inside and season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Coat the outside with the beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Broil and serve
Preheat a grill over bright coals.
Place the chickens on the grill with the inside facing down.
Broil for about 45 minutes, covering with a plate.
Before serving, add small pieces of butter on top.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,258 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
-
Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 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
- Chickens
- Form the main body of the dish, cooked through by the broiling heat.
- Beaten egg yolk
- Helps the bread crumbs adhere and adds richness to the outside.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a coating that can brown and crisp over the heat.
- Butter
- Adds fat and flavor, enriching the surface as it melts over the chicken.
The step that matters
Covering with a plate while broiling. Covering the chickens traps heat and moisture around the meat, helping it cook through evenly over the long broil. Without cover, the outside may dry or scorch before the inside is done.
“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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