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Baked Chicken

A whole chicken roasted with fat, salt, pepper, flour or cornmeal, and basted with butter and boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Baked 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. Dress, clean, stuff, and truss the chicken.

  2. Place the chicken on its back in a baking pan.

  3. Spread 2 tablespoons of fat on the breast and legs.

Roast and baste

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven and lightly sear.

  2. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then dredge with flour or cornmeal.

  3. Baste every 10 minutes with 1 tablespoon of melted butter mixed with ⅔ cup boiling water.

  4. Continue basting frequently until the chicken is cooked.

  5. Turn the chicken frequently to brown it evenly.

  6. If a glazed surface is preferred, do not dredge during baking; for a crusted surface, dredge with meal during baking.

Finish

  1. The chicken is done when the breast meat is tender.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

Whole chicken
Provides the meat that cooks through and becomes tender during roasting.
Fat
Coats the skin to help it brown and sear in the oven.
Flour or cornmeal
Forms a dry coating that crisps into a crust as the chicken bakes.
Butter
Adds richness and browning to the basting liquid.

The step that matters

Basting and turning through the roast. Regular basting and turning keep the surface moist and help it brown evenly, since the skin dries and browns unevenly if left still. Dredging choice decides between a glaze and a crust.

“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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