Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Roast Turkey Poults, Larded
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Prepare the stuffing by mixing bread crumbs, beef suet, parsley, pepper, salt, and lemon thyme.
Add the eggs to the mixture and combine well.
Stuff and roast
Stuff each leveret with half of the stuffing and secure with iron skewers.
Place thin slices of bacon over the back of each leveret and tie with string to the skewers.
Roast the turkey poults and leverets for 45 minutes before serving.
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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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,973 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 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
- Fresh bread crumbs
- Form the bulk of the stuffing and absorb moisture from the other ingredients.
- Eggs
- Bind the stuffing so it holds together when stuffed and roasted.
- Beef suet
- Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich as it cooks.
- Fat bacon
- Melts over the back of the leveret, adding fat that bastes the meat and promotes browning.
- Fresh lemon thyme
- Adds a fresh, citrusy aroma to the stuffing.
“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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