Why it works: Butter and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,505 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Grilled Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Divide the chicken in half and remove the bones from the legs and wings.
Grill and finish
Cover the chicken with butter and grill under a gas grill or over a brisk fire for 15 minutes, basting occasionally with the butter.
Brush the chicken with the egg and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs, then brown quickly.
In a pan, combine the stock, sherry, glaze, and seasoning; dissolve over heat.
Add the parsley, pour the sauce around the chicken, and serve.
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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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Chicken + sherrytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together891 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Provides the main protein; grilling cooks it through while the skin and surface brown.
- Egg
- Brushed on the surface, it helps the breadcrumbs adhere and encourages even browning.
- Brown breadcrumbs
- Sprinkled over the egg, they form a crisp, browned crust on the chicken.
- Butter
- Adds fat and moisture, and its milk solids brown during basting for flavour and colour.
- Glaze
- Dissolved into the pan sauce, it adds sweetness and gloss to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Brown quickly after adding the egg and breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs and egg can burn before the chicken is cooked through if the heat is too high or the browning runs too long. Brown just until golden, keeping the grill hot but watched closely.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, butter, sherry):
- Thymefits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, butter, sherry. 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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