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Turkey Dressing

A savory dressing made from stale bread, eggs, baking powder, pepper, salt, and poultry seasoning.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Turkey Dressing

Why it works: Bread and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Turkey Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the bread

  1. Cut the stale bakers' bread into slices and toast and butter well.

  2. Moisten slightly with boiling water.

  3. Chop finely.

Season and finish

  1. Add pepper, salt and poultry seasoning.

  2. Add 2 teaspoons baking powder.

  3. Add 2 eggs last.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

539Calories
20 gProtein
7 gFat
97 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog]. 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. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

  2. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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

Bakers' bread
Provides the main body of the dressing, soaking up moisture and seasoning.
Baking powder
Releases gas as it heats, helping the dressing rise and turn lighter.
Eggs
Bind the bread together and set as the dressing cooks, giving it structure.

The step that matters

Moisten slightly with boiling water. Bread soaks up liquid quickly. Too much water makes the dressing soggy and dense, so add only enough to soften the bread.

“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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