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Chicken with Italian Sauce

A roasted chicken served with Italian sauce and sautéed vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Chicken with Italian Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Roast the chicken in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until cooked through, then cut it into serving pieces.

  2. Using a 1‑inch diameter cutter, cut the vegetables into rounds about ¼ inch thick.

  3. Boil the vegetables separately in salted water until tender, then drain well.

Finish and serve

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the vegetables, season with pepper, and toss until the butter is absorbed.

  2. Arrange the chicken in the center of a hot serving dish, strain the hot Italian sauce over it, and group the vegetables around the chicken.

  3. Sprinkle the chopped parsley over the vegetables and serve.

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. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Roasting cooks the bird through, and cutting it into pieces makes it ready to serve.
Butter
Melting and tossing coats the vegetables with fat, adding richness and a silky finish.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and color as a firm vegetable that holds its shape after boiling.
Turnip
Adds a mild, slightly peppery flavor and a tender texture once boiled.
Leek
Adds a mild onion-like flavor and soft texture once boiled.
Celery
Adds a fresh, aromatic flavor and a crisp-tender texture once boiled.

The step that matters

Boiling the vegetables separately. Boiling until just tender and draining well keeps each vegetable's texture distinct and prevents excess water from thinning the butter and sauce.

Swap the turnip

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, sauce, carrot, leek, celery, butter, pepper):

  1. Turnipthe original
  2. Parsnipfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Potatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, sauce, carrot, leek, celery, butter, pepper. 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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