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Dressing for Turkey

A savory stuffing for turkey made with breadcrumbs, bacon, truffles, chestnuts, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Landmarks Club · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Dressing for Turkey

Why it works: Sage and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Dressing for Turkey

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine two cups of breadcrumbs (or one cup of cracker and one cup of bread), one teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of sage, one egg, one tablespoonful of butter, milk to make it moist, sage to taste, two teaspoonfuls of sage, sweet marjoram, and summer savory.

  2. Remove the outer skin of a quart of chestnuts.

  3. Put the chestnuts in a saucepan with a bay leaf, a lump of salt, and plenty of coriander seeds; cover with water and boil until tender.

  4. Drain the chestnuts and peel off the inner skin.

Assemble

  1. Add half a pound of fat bacon and a quarter pound of truffles cut into small pieces; season with pepper, spices, thyme, and marjoram.

  2. Mix all ingredients together; the stuffing is ready for use.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

692Calories
23 gProtein
22 gFat
99 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 11 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Sage1 tsp ground (0.7g)2
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Trufflenot in our table0
Chestnutnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Landmarks Club. 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. See the original page.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

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

  2. Sage + chestnuttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together102 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  5. Chestnut + thymetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together228 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the breadcrumbs and moisten the stuffing so it holds together.
Breadcrumbs
Provide the bulk and absorb the butter and liquid to form the stuffing body.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and softening the crumb texture.
Chestnuts
Contribute starchy body and a soft, mealy texture once boiled and peeled.
Fat bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour that carries through the stuffing.
Truffles
Contribute a strong, earthy aroma and luxurious flavour.

The step that matters

Boil the chestnuts until tender. Chestnuts must be fully softened before peeling, because firm chestnuts are hard to peel and stay gritty or dense in the finished stuffing.

Swap the chestnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sage, truffle, egg, butter, pepper, thyme):

  1. Walnutfits about as well
  2. Chestnutthe original
  3. Beansfits less well
  4. Hazelnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sage, truffle, egg, butter, pepper, thyme. 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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