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Chicken Broth

A clear chicken broth made by simmering a whole fowl with herbs and vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Chicken Broth

Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Chicken Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pick, clean, singe, wash, and truss the fowl as for boiling.

  2. Place the fowl in a saucepan with the appropriate amount of cold water.

  3. Add a little salt and remove any scum that rises as the water heats.

Simmer

  1. Add parsley, burnet, lemon thyme, and sliced celery.

  2. Season with white pepper and more salt, then cover and simmer slowly for 4 to 5 hours.

Strain and serve

  1. Strain the broth into an earthenware pan and remove the fat when cold.

  2. Warm the broth gently without boiling 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Thyme + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,193 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Fowl
Gives the broth its main body, meaty flavour and gelatin as it simmers slowly.
Celery
Adds a fresh, aromatic savoury flavour to the broth.
Parsley
Contributes a fresh, herbal aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Remove the scum as the water heats. Proteins and impurities rise to the surface as the water warms. Skimming them early keeps the broth clear and prevents bitter, muddy flavours from setting into it.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, parsley, lemon, thyme, celery):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, parsley, lemon, thyme, celery. 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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