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
Cut the chickens in half through the back and flatten them.
Place the chickens on a cold grill over a medium fire.
Once heated, transfer the chickens to a plate.
Cook
Lard the chickens with butter.
Season the inside with salt and pepper to taste.
Return the chickens to the grill.
Turn the chickens 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
- Chickens
- Provide the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks through.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, helping the meat stay moist and carry flavour.
- Stewed mushrooms
- Add savoury, earthy flavour and moisture alongside the chicken.
The step that matters
Turn the chickens until fully cooked. Chicken must reach a fully cooked internal temperature to be safe to eat. Cooking over a fire can char the outside before the thickest parts are done, so turn regularly and check the meat is no longer pink at the thickest parts.
“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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