Why it works: Chicken and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,417 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
Boned Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the chicken
Pick and singe the chicken, then cut off the head and feet without drawing it.
With a sharp knife, slit the chicken down the back and scrape the meat away from the bones, leaving the drumsticks and wing bones intact but broken at the joints.
Stuff and shape
Stuff the chicken with chopped cold, cooked lamb, seasoning with salt, pepper, summer savory, lemon juice, and chopped salt pork.
Shape the chicken to resemble its original form and sew it up securely.
Turn the ends of the wings under the back and tie or skewer them firmly, tying the legs down close to the body.
Bake
Lard the top of the chicken with two rows of lard.
Bake at 350°F (175°C), basting often and adding water to the pan as needed, allowing 15 minutes per pound for baking.
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.
-
Chicken + porktop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,417 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
-
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Chicken + lambtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together626 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
-
Summer savory + lemontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together115 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Pork + lambtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together623 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Whole chicken
- Forms the main body, and its meat cooks to tenderness around the stuffing.
- Chopped salt pork
- Adds fat and savoury flavour that keeps the stuffing moist during roasting.
- Lard
- Coats the surface and, with basting, helps the skin brown and stay moist.
- Cold, cooked lamb
- Makes up the bulk of the stuffing, adding meaty flavour and body.
The step that matters
Bake at 350°F (175°C), basting often and adding water to the pan as needed. Poultry dries out easily over a long roast. Regular basting and a little water in the pan keep the surface moist and help it brown evenly, while the bird cooks through.
“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.
More stuffed chicken recipes
You might also like
Chicken Broth257 recipes
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Chicken Soup156 recipes
Pork Cake107 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.