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Chicken Broth

A clear broth made by simmering chicken pieces with optional spices and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Chicken Broth

Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Chicken Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Remove the skin and fat from the chicken, then cut it in half.

  2. Remove the lungs and any other internal parts.

  3. Slice each half into thin, uniform pieces.

Simmer

  1. Place the chicken pieces in a pan, sprinkle with salt, and add 1 quart of cold water.

  2. Heat slowly until it reaches a simmer, then maintain a simmer for 1.5 hours.

  3. Add optional spices and herbs during cooking to taste.

Rest and strain

  1. After cooking, let it sit for 30 minutes off the heat.

  2. Strain through a sieve to separate the solids from the liquid.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,422 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  4. Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Chicken + clovetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,682 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the meat and bones that release flavour and gelatin into the broth as it simmers.
Cold water
Acts as the cooking liquid that slowly extracts flavour from the chicken.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the broth and helps draw flavour out of the chicken.

The step that matters

Heat slowly to a gentle simmer. Starting with cold water and heating gradually lets proteins and fats release slowly, giving a clearer broth. A rolling boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and makes the broth cloudy.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, allspice, celery):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, allspice, celery. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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