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Day After Thanksgiving Turkey Pho

"With the addition of fragrant spices and rice noodles, leftover turkey noodle soup gets a Vietnamese makeover."

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Why it works: Cardamom and basil share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 17 recipes mention both. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep15 min
Cook2 hr 15 min

Ingredients

Contains: wheat, soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Also mentioned in the method: noodles

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Toast the cardamom pod, cloves, star anise, fennel seeds and coriander seed in a dry pot over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes until fragrant.

  2. Add the turkey carcass, smashed ginger, the 1/2 onion and 8 cups of water to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer.

  3. Simmer uncovered for about 2 hours, skimming foam from the surface and adding a little water if the bones are no longer submerged.

  4. Strain the broth through a fine sieve into a clean pot, discarding the solids. Stir in the fish sauce and season with salt to taste.

  5. Meanwhile, soak the dried flat rice noodles in a bowl of hot water for 15 to 20 minutes until pliable, then drain.

  6. Add the shredded leftover turkey to the broth and heat through over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes until hot all the way through, at least 165°F (74°C).

  7. Divide the drained noodles among 4 bowls and ladle the hot broth and turkey over them.

  8. Serve topped with the thinly sliced onion, basil, cilantro, lime wedges and chile-garlic sauce, all optional, as desired.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Cardamom + basiltop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together17 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Star anise + fenneltop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together88 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-anethole (anise).

  3. Cardamom + coriandertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together872 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Cardamom + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,114 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cardamom, clove, star anise, fennel, coriander, ginger, turkey):

  1. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cardamom, clove, star anise, fennel, coriander, ginger, turkey. 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).