Name: Stuffed Roasted Chicken
Ingredients: 1 roll, soaked in milk; 1 egg yolk; 1 tablespoon butter; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon pepper; strained liver of the chicken; finely chopped cooked mushrooms; finely chopped parsley; lard for roasting

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stuffed Roasted 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

Raise the skin on the breast of the chicken.
In a bowl, mix the soaked roll, egg yolk, butter, salt, pepper, strained liver, mushrooms, and parsley until well combined.
Stuff the mixture into the chicken.

Roast

Place the chicken in a roasting pan and pour lard over it.
Roast in a 400°F (200°C) oven until it is a good red color.

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.

Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Roll: Soaked in milk, it adds moisture and a soft, bread-based body to the stuffing.
Egg yolk: Binds the stuffing together so it holds its shape inside the chicken.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor and helping the stuffing stay moist.
Chicken liver: Contributes savory, rich flavor and a tender texture to the stuffing.
Mushrooms: Add earthy flavor and moisture to the stuffing.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, butter, pepper, liver, chicken, mushroom):

Thymefits about as well
Parsleythe original
Marjoramfits about as well
Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, butter, pepper, liver, chicken, mushroom. 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.