Why it works: Chicken and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 4,512 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
The recipe
6 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Grease a large roasting pan or two baking sheets.
In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, olive oil, diced onion, minced garlic, thyme, rosemary, sage, marjoram, salt, black pepper and hot pepper sauce to make a herb sauce.
Place the potatoes, asparagus, zucchini and yellow squash in the roasting pan. Pour half the herb sauce over the vegetables and toss to coat.
Arrange the chicken quarters over and between the vegetables. Brush the chicken with the remaining herb sauce.
Roast for about 25 minutes, then stir the vegetables gently so they cook evenly.
Continue roasting for 15 to 20 minutes more, until the potatoes are tender and the chicken reaches 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part.
Let rest for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley if using, and serve with the pan juices spooned over the top.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Chicken + saucetop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together4,512 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Sage + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together507 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Rosemary + sagetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together465 recipes
Shared aroma: 1,8-cineol (eucalyptus, camphor).
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Thyme + rosemarytop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,340 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, thyme, rosemary, sage, marjoram, chicken, potato):
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumabout as good a flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, thyme, rosemary, sage, marjoram, chicken, potato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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