Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Rechauffe of Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Stir in the flour to make a roux.
Gradually add the turkey stock, stirring until smooth.
Warm and season
Add the turkey slices and warm in the sauce.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Cook for 2 more minutes until heated through.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + turkeytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,592 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Turkey + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,636 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and gives it a rich flavour while forming the roux base.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as its starch swells in the melted butter and liquid.
- Turkey stock
- Forms the liquid body of the sauce that carries the turkey slices.
- Small slices of turkey
- Provide the main protein, warmed gently through in the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the stock. Add the stock gradually while stirring so the starch in the flour disperses evenly. Adding it all at once can leave lumps that are hard to smooth out.
“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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