Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓
Broiled Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the chicken by cutting it in half through the back and flattening it.
Place the chicken on a cold grill over a medium fire.
Cook
Once hot, transfer to a plate and lard with butter.
Season the inside with salt and pepper to taste.
Place the chicken back on the grill, turning until fully cooked, about 20 minutes.
Serve
Serve hot with a dab of butter and plenty of stewed mushrooms.
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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Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,172 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Forms the main protein; cutting and flattening it lets heat reach the meat evenly.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, coating the meat so it stays juicy as it cooks.
The step that matters
Turning the chicken until fully cooked. Cooking over direct heat can brown the outside before the thickest parts are done. Turning the flattened chicken regularly helps the heat reach the interior, so the meat cooks through without burning the surface.
“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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