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Roast Turkey

A whole turkey roasted with a bread crumb and savory dressing, basted with butter, served with a giblet gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Summer savory and pepper work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 671 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Roast Turkey

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the turkey

  1. Singe the turkey and remove any pin feathers.

  2. Wash quickly in salt water and dry.

  3. Remove the sinews from the legs.

Stuff and roast

  1. In a bowl, mix bread crumbs, summer savory, butter, beaten egg, salt, and pepper to make the dressing.

  2. Stuff the turkey breast with the dressing and skewer the skin tightly.

  3. Press down the breast bone and skewer through the legs.

  4. Spread butter on top of the turkey and place it in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

  5. Baste often and add a little water to the pan.

  6. Cook for about 1.5 hours, allowing 15 minutes per pound.

Make the gravy

  1. While the turkey cooks, simmer the cleaned giblets in a saucepan until tender.

  2. Chop the giblets finely and add to the gravy, thickening with flour, salt, and pepper.

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.

  1. Summer savory + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together671 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Turkey + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together822 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,592 recipes

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

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Forms the main body of the dish and supplies the meat and drippings for the gravy.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and butter in the dressing, giving it body so it holds together when stuffed.
Beaten egg
Binds the dressing so the crumbs hold together rather than falling apart.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the skin brown as it roasts.

The step that matters

Stuffing the turkey breast and skewering the skin. Dressing packed into the cavity expands as it heats and needs to stay in place. Loose packing or loose skewering can let it spill out, and a stuffed bird needs enough time to cook through safely.

Swap the summer savory

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, bread, butter, egg, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Summer savorythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, bread, butter, egg, pepper. 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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