Name: To Warm Over Turkey
Ingredients: Turkey meat, chopped fine; Crackers or bread crumbs; Butter; Milk or water; Cooked ham, minced (optional); Dressing; Gravy from previous day; 2 eggs

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

To Warm Over Turkey

Ingredients

Directions

Remove the meat from the bones and chop it finely.
Spread a layer of crackers or bread crumbs in a buttered dish.
Moisten the crumbs with a little milk or water.
Add a layer of turkey, minced ham (if using), bits of butter, and dressing.
Repeat layers until near the top, seasoning to taste and pouring on gravy, adding water if necessary.
For the top layer, soak crumbs in warm milk and beat in 2 eggs, then spread smoothly over the dish.
Dot with bits of butter and cover with a pan or deep plate.
Cook through, then remove the cover and let the top brown.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Bread + hamtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Turkey + breadtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together822 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).