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To Broil Chickens or Pigeons

A method for broiling whole chickens or pigeons over a clear fire, seasoned with pepper and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

To Broil Chickens or Pigeons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook

  1. Slit the chicken or pigeon down the back.

  2. Season with pepper and salt.

  3. Place on a clear fire at a distance.

  4. Cook the inside facing the fire until half done.

  5. Turn and ensure the fleshy side does not burn, achieving a fine brown.

Serve

  1. Serve with your choice of sauce and garnish with parsley.

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.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. Chicken + parsleytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,314 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken or pigeon
Is the main protein that is cooked through and browned over the fire.
Pepper
Adds seasoning to the surface of the bird before cooking.
Salt
Seasons the bird before cooking.

The step that matters

Turning the bird so the fleshy side does not burn. Direct heat browns and then chars sugars and proteins quickly on exposed surfaces. Turning and keeping distance from the fire lets the meat cook through while the surface reaches an even brown rather than burning.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, 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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