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Panned Chicken

Baked chicken pieces coated in flour, butter, and bacon, simmered in boiling water or cream, then roasted until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Panned Chicken

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

  1. Season the chicken pieces and roll them in flour.

  2. Place the chicken in a dripping pan and dot with butter and bacon.

  3. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over the chicken.

Bake

  1. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for one hour.

  2. For gravy, prepare in the usual manner.

  3. Alternatively, pour 2 cups of cream or milk over the chicken before baking and omit the bacon.

  4. When browned on one side, turn the chicken.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  5. Chicken + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Flour and butter 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

Chicken pieces
Provides the main protein, which firms and cooks through during baking.
Flour
Coats the chicken so the surface browns and thickens the pan juices for gravy.
Butter
Adds fat that helps the surface brown and gives a rich flavor.
Bacon
Releases fat and savory flavor into the chicken and pan as it cooks.
Cream or milk
Optional liquid that adds moisture and richness to the sauce around the chicken.

The step that matters

When browned on one side, turn the chicken.. Turning once the underside has browned lets the floured surface brown evenly on both sides. Turning too early can tear the coating and make the pieces stick to the pan.

“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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