Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Fried Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Dip the chicken pieces in water.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and black pepper, then roll in flour.
Brown the chicken
In a skillet, sauté the chicken in lard or butter until browned on both sides.
Remove the chicken and add 1 tablespoon of flour to the pan.
Cook the flour for 1 minute, stirring constantly without browning.
Make the sauce and serve
Add 1 cup of milk or cream and stir until slightly thickened.
Strain the sauce and mix in the chopped parsley.
Place the sauce on a serving dish and arrange the chicken pieces on top.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,389 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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
- Provides the main protein; browning in fat builds color and savory flavor on the surface.
- All-purpose flour
- Coats the chicken for a crisp browned crust and thickens the sauce when cooked in the pan fat.
- Milk or cream
- Forms the base of the sauce, adding richness and creamy body as it thickens.
- Lard or butter
- Fat for browning the chicken, adding flavor and helping the coating turn golden.
The step that matters
Cooking the flour before adding milk. Cooking flour in fat for about a minute, stirring constantly, cooks out its raw taste and helps it thicken smoothly. Letting it brown changes the flavor and color of the sauce.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, flour, butter, sauce, milk):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Capersfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, flour, butter, sauce, milk. 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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