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Devilled Chicken

A roasted chicken seasoned with cayenne pepper, salt, mustard, anchovy, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Devilled Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the skin from the wings and legs of the chicken.

  2. Make deep incisions in several places of the flesh.

  3. Mix cayenne pepper, salt, mustard, anchovy, and butter to create a fiery mixture.

  4. Rub the mixture well into the cut parts of the flesh.

Cook and serve

  1. Broil the chicken over a clear fire.

  2. Serve on a hot serviette.

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 + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  2. Chicken + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,192 recipes

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

  3. Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Mustard + anchovytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together590 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Carries the seasonings and adds moisture and richness to the flesh.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that complements the heat of the cayenne.
Anchovy
Adds a deep savoury, salty flavour that enriches the rub.
Cayenne pepper
Provides the fiery heat that gives the dish its deviled character.

The step that matters

Rub the mixture well into the cut parts of the flesh. The incisions let the rub penetrate past the surface. Thorough coating ensures seasoning reaches the interior, and the butter helps it stay on the meat during broiling rather than dripping away.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Onionfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, anchovy, butter. 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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