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 small pieces of butter over it.
Optionally, add small pieces of salt pork for flavor.
Bake and grill
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.
Finish cooking on the grill until 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
- Provides the main protein that is cooked through by baking and then grilling.
- Butter
- Adds moisture and richness, and its milk solids help the skin brown.
The step that matters
Finish cooking on the grill until done. Moving the chicken from the oven to the grill means the cook must judge doneness by checking the thickest parts, since the earlier partial cooking can make it easy to under- or overcook the final stretch.
“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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