Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Roast 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
Wash the chicken thoroughly in two or three waters, adding a little baking soda to the second-to-last rinse to ensure freshness.
Dry the chicken with a clean cloth and fill the cavity with stuffing.
Place the chicken in a roasting pan.
Roast
Add hot water to the pan.
Add 1 tablespoon of butter, salt, and pepper to the pan.
Baste frequently and roast at 400°F (200°C) without scorching.
When nearly done, add the remaining butter to the pan. Once melted, baste again.
Dredge the chicken with flour.
Let it finish roasting.
Roast for about 30 minutes if the fire is right.
Make the gravy and serve
For the gravy, simmer the giblets in a small amount of water.
Strain the giblets.
Mix the strained giblets with the drippings from the chicken, skimming off excess fat.
Thicken the gravy with browned flour.
Add chopped giblets to the gravy.
Serve the chicken with the gravy in a boat and accompany with cranberry sauce or any tart sauce.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Chicken + livertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together383 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and browns the skin while basting.
- Flour
- Dredging the chicken and thickening the gravy, where it browns and sets the sauce.
- Giblets
- Add concentrated meaty flavour to the gravy.
- Hot water
- Creates steam and moisture in the pan, and forms the base for the drippings.
The step that matters
Basting and browning the flour. Frequent basting keeps the skin moist and evenly coloured, while too much heat or time can scorch the butter and flour, leaving bitter flavour. Watching the browning keeps the gravy tasting rich rather than burnt.
“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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