Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Devilled Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place the jointed legs and wings on a grill and broil slowly.
Once the turkey is broiled, lay it on a hot dish.
Make the sauce
In a bowl, mix pepper vinegar, mustard, celery sauce, fruit jelly, salt, and pepper to create the sauce.
Serve
Pour the sauce over the turkey and sprinkle pounded cracker on top.
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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Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,120 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Legs and wings of turkey
- Provide the meat that is broiled and served with the sauce.
- Pepper vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity and heat to the sauce.
- Prepared mustard
- Adds sharpness and a tangy flavor that balances the sweetness of the jelly.
- Acid fruit jelly
- Adds sweetness that softens the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.
The step that matters
Broil the turkey slowly. Slow heat cooks the joints through while gradually browning the skin. Fast, high heat can char the outside before the meat near the bone is cooked.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, pepper, vinegar, mustard, sauce):
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits about as well
- Celerythe original
- Thymefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, pepper, vinegar, mustard, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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