Why it works: Chicken and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,902 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
Broiled Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Dress the chicken and cut it down the back.
Use a rolling pin to flatten the chicken.
Broil and finish
Place it in a broiler with the underside facing the fire.
Turn the chicken frequently and cook quickly.
Once cooked, transfer it to a pan with butter, salt, and pepper.
Set the pan in the oven to melt the butter.
Baste the chicken well and serve hot.
Alternatively, place the chicken in a pan with a little water, 1 tablespoon of butter, salt, and pepper, with the underside up.
Cook quickly, basting often, and add another tablespoon of butter just before it is nicely browned.
Serve immediately.
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 + 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).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Melts and bastes the chicken, adding richness, moisture and browning.
The step that matters
Turning and basting while cooking quickly. Turning the chicken frequently and basting it keeps the surface from drying or scorching before the interior is cooked through. Adding butter just before browning gives color and flavor without burning the milk solids, which darken quickly over high heat.
“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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