Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Turkey Scallop
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Remove the meat from the bones of cold turkey.
Chop the meat finely.
Layer the dish
Layer bread crumbs in a buttered dish.
Moisten the bread crumbs with a little milk.
Add a layer of turkey and some filling.
Place small pieces of butter on top.
Sprinkle with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Add another layer of bread crumbs.
Repeat layers until the dish is nearly full.
Add a little hot water to the turkey gravy.
Pour the hot water over the layers.
Top and bake
In a bowl, mix 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, a little salt, and enough cracker crumbs to make a thick spread.
Spread the mixture over the top.
Dot the mixture with butter.
Cover the dish with a plate.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.
Ten minutes before serving, remove the plate to let it brown.
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.
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Turkey + breadtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together822 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Turkey + meattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together540 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Turkey meat
- Provides the main protein and savory body of the layered dish.
- Bread crumbs
- Form the absorbent layers that soak up moisture and hold the dish together.
- Eggs
- Bind the cracker-crumb topping so it sets into a cohesive spread.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that helps the top brown.
- Cracker crumbs
- Thicken the egg mixture into a spreadable topping that adds body.
The step that matters
Cover, then uncover to brown. The plate covering traps steam so the layers cook through and stay moist; removing it near the end lets surface moisture evaporate so the top can brown.
“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.
More turkey scallop recipes
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Turkey Soup71 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipes