Why it works: Turnip and watercress share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Roast Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the chicken
Singe the chicken.
Draw the chicken.
Cut off the neck and part of the legs.
Wipe the inside with a damp cloth.
Truss the chicken for roasting.
Wash the liver and heart.
Place the liver and heart in a baking pan with the mirepoix.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken on top of the mirepoix.
Spread 1 ounce of butter on top of the chicken.
Roast
Cook in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes, basting frequently.
Reduce the oven heat to 350°F (175°C).
Cook for another 20 minutes or until done.
Remove the chicken.
Untruss the chicken.
Keep it hot on a dish.
Make the sauce and serve
Pour off the fat from the baking pan.
Add 1½ cups of stock.
Boil for a few minutes.
Season the sauce.
Strain the sauce, removing any fat from the surface.
Pour a little sauce around the chicken.
Serve the rest in a sauceboat.
Garnish with sprigs of crisp watercress.
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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Turnip + watercresstop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together29 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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, and its fat bastes the meat as it roasts.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the skin brown during roasting.
- Bacon
- Adds fat and savoury flavour as it renders over the bird.
- Stock
- Forms the base of the sauce, adding moisture and savoury depth.
- Onion
- Flavours the pan juices and sauce as part of the mirepoix.
The step that matters
Basting during the hot roast. Basting with the pan fat keeps the surface moist and helps it brown evenly. Because the bird cooks in a hot oven, skipping basting can leave the skin dry and pale.
Swap the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, turnip, onion, pepper, butter, watercress):
- Leekfits better
- Chivefits better
- Spinachfits better
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, turnip, onion, pepper, butter, watercress. 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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