Why it works: Thyme and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,973 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Broiled Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Broil the chicken
Preheat the grill.
Baste the chicken, then cook it for 10 minutes.
Turn the chicken, baste it again, and cook it for another 5 minutes.
Turn the chicken once more and cook it for an additional 5 minutes until nicely cooked.
Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
Serve the chicken.
Stew the chicken
For stewing, cover the chicken with simmering veal broth or beef tea.
Cook gently for 45 minutes.
Remove the chicken.
Keep the chicken warm while skimming and slightly thickening the gravy.
Return the chicken to the gravy.
Heat thoroughly.
Serve with seasoned gravy and French beans.
Make the fricassee
For a fricassee, stew the chicken in white veal stock until tender.
Cut the chicken into joints.
Boil onion, thyme, and lemon peel in milk until reduced to ¼ pint.
Mix with boiled flour to create the sauce.
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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Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,973 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,171 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,814 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks through.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the sauce, adding body and a creamy, mellow flavour.
- Boiled flour
- Thickens the milk sauce as its starch swells when heated.
- Veal broth
- Adds savoury depth and moisture to the gravy while the chicken stews.
The step that matters
Cook the chicken gently after the broil. Simmering at a gentle heat keeps the meat tender and moist, whereas a hard boil toughens muscle proteins and dries the flesh.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, veal, thyme, lemon, milk, flour):
- Capsicumfits better
- Leekfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, veal, thyme, lemon, milk, flour. 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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