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 ↓
Broiled Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Cut the chicken open on the back and wash it thoroughly.
Place the chicken in a small shallow pan and scatter butter pieces over it.
Optionally add small pieces of salt pork for flavor.
Cook and serve
Bake in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until half cooked.
Transfer the chicken to a grill over moderate coals and season with salt and pepper.
Cook until fully done, then place on a dish and pour melted butter over it.
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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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Whole chicken
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through to tender meat during roasting and grilling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and helps the skin brown as it melts over the chicken.
The step that matters
Bake until half cooked before grilling. Finishing the chicken on coals alone can leave the inside underdone or the outside burnt. Partial cooking in a hot oven first lets the interior cook through while the grill chars the skin.
“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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