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Scalloped Turkey

A baked turkey dish layered with dressing, gravy, breadcrumbs, butter, egg, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Scalloped Turkey

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Assemble

  1. Layer turkey pieces in a baking dish with bits of dressing and gravy if available.

  2. Add a thin layer of bread crumbs or rolled crackers and dot with butter.

  3. Repeat layers of meat and dressing, finishing with a layer of bread crumbs.

Bake

  1. If the mixture lacks moisture, beat the egg and mix it with the milk, then pour over the layers.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the dish.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Turkey + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together822 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Turkey + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together281 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Provides the main protein and the meaty body of the casserole.
Dressing
Adds savory flavor and soft, moist bulk between the turkey layers.
Egg
Binds the milk into a custard that helps set the layers together.
Milk
Adds moisture that softens the bread and keeps the dish from drying out.
Bread crumbs or rolled crackers
Forms crisp, absorbent layers that help hold the dish together.

The step that matters

Adding the egg and milk mixture. Pouring the custard over the layers only when the mixture is dry helps keep the casserole moist. Beaten egg in milk sets as it bakes and binds the layers together.

“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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