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Chicken Broth

A clear broth made by simmering a whole chicken with rice, onion, forcemeat balls, salt, cayenne pepper, and toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Chicken Broth

Why it works: Chicken and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Chicken Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Clean and truss the chicken.

  2. For broth, place the chicken in cold water; for separate use, place in hot water.

Simmer

  1. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently, skimming the surface.

  2. Turn the chicken over in the water to ensure even cooking.

  3. Add rice, chopped onion, and forcemeat balls.

  4. Chop the giblets and boil them in the broth.

Season and serve

  1. Remove the chicken and season the broth with salt and cayenne pepper.

  2. Serve the broth with small pieces of toast.

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. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 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

Whole chicken
Gives the broth its main flavour and body as it simmers.
Rice
Adds body and thickens the broth slightly as its starch releases.
Onion
Contributes aromatic sweetness and savoury depth to the broth.
Giblets
Add extra meaty flavour to the broth as they boil.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface while simmering. Simmering gently and skimming off the foam that rises keeps the broth clear and free of greasy or cloudy particles. A hard boil breaks up fat and proteins, making the broth murky and harder to strain cleanly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, rice, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, rice, pepper. 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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