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 ↓
Roast Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Wash the chicken in two or three waters, adding baking soda to the last rinse if needed.
Dry the chicken with a clean cloth and fill it with stuffing.
Roast
Place the chicken in a roasting pan with hot water and 1 tablespoon of butter.
Season with salt and pepper, and baste frequently while roasting at 400°F (200°C).
When nearly done, add the remaining butter to the pan and baste again.
Dredge a little flour over the chicken, baste once more, and finish roasting for about 30 minutes.
Make the gravy and serve
Stew the giblets in a small amount of water, strain, and mix with the drippings from the chicken.
Thicken the gravy with browned flour and add chopped giblets.
Serve the chicken with the gravy and tart sauce on the side.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Chicken + livertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together383 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Provides the main protein and the drippings that form the base of the gravy.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps the skin brown and the meat stay moist while basting.
- Browning flour
- Thickens the drippings into a gravy as it cooks with the fat.
- Giblets
- Add savory meaty flavor to the gravy once stewed and chopped.
The step that matters
Basting during the roast. Basting spreads fat and pan juices over the surface, which promotes even browning and keeps the meat from drying out. Skipping it or letting the pan run dry lets the surface dry and the drippings scorch.
“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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