Why it works: Flour and watercress match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 340 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Roast Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the turkey
Remove tendons from the legs. Singe the turkey. Draw the turkey. Remove pin-feathers. Wash the turkey. Dry the turkey carefully.
If desired, fill the turkey with stuffing.
Cover the breast with thin slices of salt pork, scored lightly. Fasten the salt pork slices with strings or small skewers.
Roast
Place the turkey on the rack of a baking pan in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C). Turn the bird often to sear the outside evenly and keep the juices inside.
After 15 to 30 minutes, add a little hot water and drippings to the pan.
Reduce the temperature to 350°F (175°C).
Baste every 10 minutes, dredging with flour after each basting.
When half cooked, add salt to the flour.
The turkey is done when the joints separate easily, which takes about 3 hours.
When nearly cooked, remove the pork from the breast.
Brown and serve
Baste with melted butter mixed with hot water. Return to the oven for final browning. Baste several times until the desired color is achieved.
Garnish with watercress. Cover the ends of the drumsticks with paper frills.
Serve with Giblet Sauce made from browned flour in the pan, additional flour if needed, the water used to cook the giblets, and chopped giblets.
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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Flour + watercresstop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together340 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Turkey + porktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together830 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,933 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,592 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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
- Turkey
- Is the main cut of meat, cooked whole so the lean and dark meat cook together.
- Salt pork
- Covers the breast to add fat and moisture as it renders over the lean meat.
- Drippings
- Add browned savory flavor to the pan liquid used for basting and the gravy.
- Flour
- Dusted on the bird during basting, it helps build a browned, colored crust.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the final basting, promoting golden browning and flavor.
The step that matters
Basting and final browning. Frequent basting keeps the surface moist and helps the skin brown evenly; too little leaves dry, pale meat, while the final browning sets the color.
“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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