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Broiled Chickens

A method of cooking whole chickens by broiling them after seasoning and coating with egg yolk and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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

  1. Split the chickens down the back and flatten them.

  2. Wipe the inside and season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  3. Coat the outside with the beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Broil and serve

  1. Preheat a grill over bright coals.

  2. Place the chickens on the grill with the inside facing down.

  3. Broil for about 45 minutes, covering with a plate.

  4. Before serving, add small pieces of butter on top.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,258 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).

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

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

  5. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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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