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Chicken

A simple chicken stew with rice, broth, and optional vegetables, simmered until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and chicken 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

Ingredients

Directions

Make the rice base

  1. Combine rice and light broth in a stewpan.

  2. Boil gently until rice is a pulp.

  3. If rice is dry, add more broth.

Cook the chicken

  1. Add the chicken wing or leg and warm for about 5 minutes.

  2. Lightly oil the chicken and warm it gently on a grill.

  3. Alternatively, broil the chicken on a grill and serve with light gravy.

  4. For a plain option, warm the chicken in a stewpan with stock and serve.

  5. To boil the chicken, add salt and butter to boiling water, then add the chicken.

  6. Simmer gently for 20 minutes until done.

  7. Optionally, add vegetables for broth.

  8. After removing the chicken, skim off fat.

  9. Add vermicelli and boil for 5 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve the chicken and rice together on a hot plate.

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. Rice + chickentop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,645 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

Rice
Breaks down into a pulp as it boils, thickening the broth into a soft, stew-like base.
Light broth
Provides the cooking liquid that carries flavour and keeps the rice moist as it softens.
Chicken wing or leg
Supplies the main protein and savoury meaty flavour in the stew.
Butter
Adds richness and a rounded, silky mouthfeel to the boiling liquid.

The step that matters

Boil gently until rice is a pulp. Rice starch thickens the liquid as the grains break down. Boiling too hard can scorch the bottom of the pan and make the texture uneven, so keep the heat low and stir.

“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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