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Smothered Chicken

A whole chicken is seasoned, dredged, browned, then simmered in water until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Smothered Chicken

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.

  2. Heat lard and butter in a skillet over medium heat.

  3. Dredge each piece of chicken heavily in flour and place them in the skillet.

Smother and bake

  1. Cut chicken fat into small bits and lay over the chicken.

  2. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour over the chicken.

  3. Pour in 1 pint of boiling water and cover tightly.

  4. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 2 hours, adding more water if it becomes too dry.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken
The main protein, which the flour coating and braising liquid cook into tender meat.
Flour
Coats the chicken and thickens the pan liquid into a gravy as it cooks.
Lard
Adds fat for browning the flour-dredged chicken in the skillet.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor for browning the chicken and enriching the gravy.

The step that matters

Covering tightly and adding water during the bake. Sealing the lid traps steam so the chicken braises rather than dries out during the long bake. If the liquid cooks off, the flour can scorch and the meat toughens, so checking and adding boiling water keeps the gravy moist.

“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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