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 ↓
Breaded Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the chicken
Cut the young chickens into pieces as for fricassee.
Dip each piece in the beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs or rolled crackers.
Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and minced parsley.
Bake and make the sauce
Place in a baking pan and top each piece with a lump of butter.
Add ½ cup of hot water.
Bake at 300°F (150°C), basting often.
Once cooked, transfer to a warm platter.
In the pan, pour in 1 cup of cream or rich milk and 1 cup of bread crumbs.
Stir well until cooked.
Pour the sauce over the chicken.
Serve
Serve 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,258 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Young chickens
- The main protein, cut into pieces that cook through in the oven.
- Beaten egg
- Binds the crumb coating so it adheres to the chicken during baking.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating and thicken the cream sauce.
- Cream or rich milk
- Adds richness and moisture to the pan sauce.
- Butter
- Adds fat that enriches flavour and helps the coating brown.
The step that matters
Basting often during baking. Regular basting moistens the chicken with pan juices and fat, helping the surface brown while the interior stays juicy instead of drying out in the oven.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, bread, pepper, butter, cream):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Garlicfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, bread, pepper, butter, cream. 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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