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To Broil Chicken

A whole chicken broiled over slow heat, seasoned with salt and pepper, served with butter, hot water, parsley garnish, and poached eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Dress and wash the chicken, then split it open through the backbone.

  2. Fold the chicken by cutting the cords under the wings and laying the wings flat.

  3. Cut the sinews under the second joint of the leg and turn the leg down.

  4. Press down the breastbone without breaking it.

  5. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

Broil

  1. Place the chicken on a gridiron with the inside facing the fire over a slow heat.

  2. Put a tin sheet and weight on the chicken to keep it flat.

  3. Broil for 10 minutes, then turn and repeat on the other side.

  4. Monitor closely to avoid scorching; adjust heat as needed.

Serve

  1. Serve on a hot plate with a large lump of butter and a tablespoon of hot water, turning the chicken to absorb the butter.

  2. Garnish with parsley and serve with poached eggs on a separate dish.

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. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  5. 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
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked through by broiling while kept flat for even heat.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, coating the chicken as it is turned on the plate.

The step that matters

Broil with a weight on the chicken and monitor closely. Keeping the chicken flat under a weight gives even contact with the heat, and watching closely while adjusting heat prevents the skin and surface from scorching before the inside is cooked.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Garlicfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, 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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