Name: Roast Turkey
Ingredients: 1 whole turkey; salt; pepper; butter; herbs (such as thyme and rosemary)

Why it works: Thyme and rosemary match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Roast Turkey

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Clean the turkey and remove any giblets.
Rub the turkey inside and out with salt and pepper.
Spread butter over the skin and inside the cavity.
Stuff the turkey with herbs for added flavor.

Roast and serve

Place the turkey in a roasting pan and roast for about 13-15 minutes per pound, basting occasionally.
Ensure the internal temperature reaches 165°F (74°C) before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Thyme + rosemarytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,340 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + rosemarytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,324 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Turkey + thymetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together233 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,592 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey: Forms the dish; its meat cooks to a firm texture while the skin browns in the oven.
Butter: Adds fat that helps the skin brown and keeps the surface moist during roasting.
Herbs: Add aroma and savory flavor that perfume the meat from inside the cavity.

The step that matters

Ensure the internal temperature reaches 165°F (74°C) before serving.. Roasting time per pound is only an estimate, since bird size, oven accuracy and starting temperature vary. Checking the thickest part of the meat with a thermometer confirms it has cooked through, which is the reliable sign of doneness for poultry.