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A Broiled Chicken

A whole chicken cooked over a grill, seasoned with pepper and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,902 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

A Broiled Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pick and singe the chicken, then cut it in half and clean it thoroughly.

  2. Remove the head, neck, and first joints of the feet.

  3. Dry the chicken with a napkin if washed.

  4. Flatten the chicken for even cooking and oil it all over or brush with warm butter.

Broil

  1. Place the chicken on a grill over a clear fire, bones down, and baste well.

  2. Turn the chicken three or four times while cooking, starting when the gravy oozes out.

  3. Sprinkle with pepper and salt before serving.

  4. Cook for about 25 minutes.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 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

Chicken
Provides the main meat, which browns and firms as it cooks over the fire.
Oil or warm butter
Coats the surface to keep the meat moist and help it brown in the heat.

The step that matters

Turn the chicken three or four times while cooking, starting when the gravy oozes out.. Turning exposes each side to the direct heat in turn, so the chicken cooks evenly and the skin does not scorch on one side. Starting when juices appear signals that the meat is nearing done.

“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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