Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,039 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Remove the thighs from the turkey and set aside for cold serving with a salad.
Cut off the wings and chop them into pieces.
Remove the tenderloins and breasts, then break the stomach, carcass, and tail.
Alternatively, remove the wings first, then break the back above the tail, freeing the thighs.
Cut the front of the turkey and serve it hot.
Serve a portion of stuffing with each piece.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,039 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + mustardtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15,427 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Turkey + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,637 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Mustard + lemontop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,815 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Turkey + lemontop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together464 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, pepper, lemon):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, pepper, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
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