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 ↓
Fried Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the chicken into pieces as for fricassee and ensure each piece is dry.
Season the cracker crumbs with pepper and coarse sea salt in a plate.
Fry
In a skillet, heat equal parts lard and butter over medium heat.
Roll each piece of chicken in the seasoned cracker crumbs.
Fry the chicken in the hot grease, turning often until browned evenly.
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
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through while the outside crisps.
- Cracker crumbs
- Form a seasoned crust that browns and crisps when fried.
- Lard
- Carries heat evenly around the chicken and adds richness and crispness to the crust.
- Butter
- Adds flavor and golden color to the frying fat.
The step that matters
Fry the chicken in the hot grease, turning often until browned evenly.. The fat must be hot enough to crisp the crust quickly; if it is too cool, the coating absorbs grease and turns soggy. Turning often promotes even browning and prevents scorching on one side.
“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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