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Round the Table

A turkey stuffed with various mixtures, roasted or braised, served with gravy and garnishes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chevalley de Rivaz, Victor · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Round the Table

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stuffings

  1. Take two parts sausage meat, one chestnut, and one bread crumb soaked in milk; pound in a mortar, adding pepper, salt, spices, powdered sweet herbs, and plenty of minced parsley; work in the yolks of two or three eggs to desired consistency.

  2. Take equal parts ham, beef suet, grilled chestnuts, mushrooms, and one or two onions; chop finely and pound in a mortar; season with grated nutmeg, pepper, salt, powdered thyme; add minced parsley and as much bread-crumb soaked in milk as ham and suet together; work in yolks of eggs as needed; stuff the turkey.

  3. Take the turkey liver with double its bulk of fat bacon and a couple onions; chop; give them a turn on the fire; then add equal quantities of truffles, chestnuts, button mushrooms, pepper, salt, and sweet herbs; give the mixture another turn on the fire; use it.

Roast the turkey

  1. Turkey stuffed and ready for roasting: pack in thin slices of fat bacon (harder called from barde, a slice of fat bacon) tied with thread; cover with buttered paper; when at the fire, bast frequently with butter; about a quarter hour before done remove paper and bacon slices; sprinkle with salt before serving.

Braise and serve

  1. To braise turkey: truss it as for boiling; lay in a braising pan over a bed of thick bacon slices; surround with calf's foot pieces, onions, carrot slices, thyme, marjoram, parsley, bay leaves, a clove garlic, a few cloves, whole pepper, allspice, and salt; moisten with about a quart stock and a tumblerful sherry; lay a round of buttered paper on top; cover pan; braise over moderate fire for four to five hours.

  2. Both roast and braised turkey may be larded; garnish similarly; British usage garnishes with sausages; best form is Oxford sausages; sauce: Perigiieux sauce (truffles minced into rich brown gravy); gravy of braised turkey reduced and strained; garnish with watercress seasoned with oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt.

  3. If turkey is not fit to roast or braise, boil for soup; wash in tepid water, rub all.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

444Calories
38 gProtein
24 gFat
17 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 13 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pork100g cooked242
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Meatnot 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 Chevalley de Rivaz, Victor. 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.

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. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks bind the stuffing so it holds together when cooked.
Bread crumbs (in the method)
Soaked in milk, they add moisture and lightness to the stuffing.
Sausage meat
Provides richness and fat, giving the stuffing savoury body.
Fat bacon
Bastes the bird with fat, keeping the meat moist and adding flavour.
Chestnuts (in the method)
Add starchy body and a mild sweetness to the stuffing.
Onions
Add aroma and sweetness as they cook down in the stuffing and braise.

The step that matters

Basting the stuffed turkey with butter. Fat carries heat to the surface and encourages even browning, while frequent basting keeps the lean meat from drying out during roasting.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, garlic, meat, egg, pepper, parsley, nutmeg):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, garlic, meat, egg, pepper, parsley, nutmeg. 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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