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To Koast Turkey

A turkey coated with a breadcrumb and cracker mixture, baked and served with cranberry sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

To Koast 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.

Cook the turkey

  1. Steam the turkey until cooked through.

  2. Remove the turkey and bake it in the oven at 350°F (175°C).

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, mix equal parts of bread crumbs and crushed crackers.

  2. Add some turkey broth and one whole egg to the mixture.

  3. Season with sage, thyme, pepper, and coarse sea salt.

  4. If desired, add oysters to the dressing.

Stuff and serve

  1. Ensure the dressing is moist, then fill the turkey with it.

  2. Place the turkey in a pan and serve with cranberry sauce.

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. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Thyme + cranberrytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together43 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Sage + cranberrytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together45 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Forms the main dish, which is cooked and then stuffed with dressing.
Bread crumbs
Form the bulk of the dressing and soak up broth to give it body.
Crushed crackers
Add extra crumb bulk and a slightly crisp, savoury texture to the dressing.
Turkey broth
Moistens the dressing so the crumbs soften and hold together.
Egg
Binds the dressing so it holds its shape when spooned into the turkey.
Sage
Adds the herby, savoury aroma that defines the dressing.

The step that matters

Ensure the dressing is moist, then fill the turkey with it.. Dry crumbs and crackers do not bind well and can taste dusty. Moist dressing softens, holds together, and heats more evenly inside the bird.

Swap the cranberry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, bread, egg, sage, thyme, pepper, oyster):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Cranberrythe original
  3. Limefits less well
  4. Figfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, bread, egg, sage, thyme, pepper, oyster. 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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