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Baked Turkey

A method for preparing a plump turkey by soaking, seasoning, and baking with lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Turkey and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,636 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Baked Turkey

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the turkey

  1. Pick the turkey carefully without scalding.

  2. Pour boiling water over the turkey to plump it.

  3. Singe the turkey with a piece of lighted writing paper to remove down.

  4. Wash the turkey thoroughly inside and out, then wipe dry.

  5. Rub the turkey inside and out with salt and let it rest overnight.

Season and cook

  1. When ready to cook, rinse the turkey and rub it again with salt and pepper.

  2. Place the turkey on a rack in a covered baking pan and add hot water.

  3. Rub the outside of the turkey with lard to prevent blistering.

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.

  1. Turkey + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,636 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
The main protein; its size and fat content set the cooking time and how moist the meat stays.
Lard
Fat rubbed on the skin to help prevent blistering and promote even browning.
Hot water
Added to the covered pan to create steam, keeping the turkey moist during baking.
Boiling water
Poured over the bird to plump the skin before cooking.

The step that matters

Pour boiling water over the turkey to plump it. Water that is too hot or left on too long can scald and tear the skin, so the bird should be handled quickly and carefully at this stage.

“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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