Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Fowl, Roasted
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick and singe the fowl, then truss it firmly.
Season the fowl with coarse sea salt.
Roast
Roast the fowl over an open fire, basting frequently with butter or oil.
Cook for 50 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on the size.
Serve
Serve garnished with watercress or sausages, with bread sauce and gravy if desired.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Watercress + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together307 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Watercress + saucetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together295 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Bread + saucetop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,934 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Whole fowl
- Forms the main body of the dish, setting the cooking time and the amount served.
- Butter or oil
- Adds moisture and fat to the skin, helping it brown and stay from drying out during roasting.
The step that matters
Basting frequently while roasting. Regular basting with fat keeps the surface moist and helps the skin brown evenly. Without it, the outside can dry out and turn tough before the centre is cooked through.
“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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