Why it works: Chicken and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,513 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Boiled Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Prepare the chicken for boiling as you would for roasting.
Truss the chicken by cutting off the legs at the knee joint.
Loosen the skin over the legs and tuck the lower part of the leg under the skin.
Skewer through the wings, upper part of the legs, body, and other wing.
Tie string around the neck and lower part of the chicken to close the opening.
Boil and rest
Place the chicken in rapidly boiling stock and boil for 5 minutes.
Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes per pound plus an additional 20 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the stock and drain well.
Place on a hot dish, remove skewer and string.
Serve
Pour egg sauce over the chicken and grate egg yolk on top before serving hot.
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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Chicken + saucetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,513 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Chicken + eggtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,991 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + saucetop 39% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,895 recipes
Egg and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,895 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, which firms and becomes tender as it cooks in the stock.
- Boiling stock
- Cooks the chicken gently and keeps its flesh moist while it simmers.
- Egg sauce
- Adds richness and a creamy coating over the moist, mild chicken.
- Egg yolk
- Grated on top, it adds richness and a golden finish to the dish.
The step that matters
Simmering the chicken. Boiling too hard toughens the proteins and dries the meat. Keeping the stock at a gentle simmer lets the chicken cook through evenly while staying tender and juicy.
“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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