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Broiled Chickens

Broiled chickens seasoned with mustard, vinegar, cayenne, and bread crumbs, served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Broiled Chickens

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare and broil

  1. Clean and split the chickens down the back.

  2. Broil over a clear fire until cooked and beginning to brown.

Sauce and finish

  1. Place in a dripping pan and rub with a sauce made from mustard, vinegar, and cayenne.

  2. Sprinkle fine bread crumbs over the chickens.

  3. Transfer to a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) to brown.

  4. Serve hot with a little sauce on each leg and breast.

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.

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. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Chicken + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  4. Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,258 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Whole chickens
Provide the main protein, which cooks through during broiling and browns further in the oven.
Made mustard
Adds sharp flavour and emulsifies with the vinegar to form a clinging sauce.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the mustard and balances the richness of the chicken.
Fine bread crumbs
Form a crust that helps the surface brown and absorb the sauce.

The step that matters

Broil until cooked and beginning to brown. The chicken must be cooked through before it goes into the sauce and crumbs. Broiling over a clear fire develops surface browning, while the oven finish browns the crumbs without drying the meat.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, vinegar, pepper, bread):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Onionfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, vinegar, pepper, bread. 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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