Why it works: Pepper and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Roast Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the turkey
Wash and clean the turkey thoroughly, then dry it.
In a bowl, mix the grated bread, butter, pepper, salt, and herbs.
Fill the turkey with the stuffing and sew it up to prevent the stuffing from cooking out.
Rub salt, pepper, and butter on the outside of the turkey.
Place the giblets under the turkey to keep them moist.
Roast
Place the turkey in a roasting pan with 1 teacup of water.
Baste often and turn the turkey until it is browned all over, about 2 hours.
Make the gravy and serve
After taking out the turkey, add 1 tablespoon of flour to the pan and stir until brown.
Remove the giblets and chop them finely.
Serve the giblets with the gravy poured over them.
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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Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Marjoram + flourtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,265 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Turkey + breadtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together822 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Turkey
- Forms the main body of the dish, and its meat cooks to tender, juicy texture when roasted slowly.
- Butter
- Adds fat that carries flavor and helps the outside brown evenly in the oven.
- Bread
- Grated into the stuffing, it soaks up juices and gives the filling a soft, moist texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the pan juices into gravy and, when browned, adds color and a toasted flavor.
The step that matters
Baste often and turn the turkey. Basting spreads melted fat and pan juices over the surface, which helps the skin brown evenly and keeps the exposed meat from drying out during roasting.
Swap the marjoram
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, bread, butter, egg, pepper, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Sagefits better
- Marjoramthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, bread, butter, egg, pepper, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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