Why it works: Flour and butter 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 ↓
Gravy for Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the turkey
Wash the turkey thoroughly and wipe it dry. Do not salt.
Fill the turkey with dressing and place it in a double roaster without water.
Roast and finish the gravy
Keep the fire enough to hear a gentle sizzle and bake for 20 minutes per pound.
One and a half hours before the turkey is done, pour over the gravy made from boiling water and flour mixed with a small quantity of water.
Add the butter and salt to taste to the gravy.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Thickens the gravy as it cooks, giving it body.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richer flavour and a smoother mouthfeel.
“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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