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Braised Turkey

A whole turkey stuffed and braised with pork slices, giblets, vegetables, herbs, and stock, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,097 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Braised Turkey

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the turkey

  1. Cover the turkey with slices of pork.

  2. Tie the turkey with cord to keep its shape.

  3. Place 4 slices of pork in a braising pan.

  4. Put the turkey on top.

  5. Add the giblets, onions, cloves, carrots, parsnip, bay leaves, herbs, salt, and pepper.

  6. Almost cover with stock.

Braise

  1. Cover tightly.

  2. Simmer gently for 4 to 6 hours.

  3. Brown the turkey in the oven.

  4. Alternatively, use a braising pan with hot coals on the lid.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Remove the vegetables.

  2. Boil the gravy down rapidly.

  3. Skim off fat.

  4. Garnish with boiled carrot and turnip cut into fancy shapes.

  5. Alternatively, garnish with fried small sausages.

  6. Strain part of the gravy.

  7. Stir in a spoonful of brown thickening.

  8. Pour over the turkey.

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. Carrot + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Clove + parsniptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together306 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Forms the main roast; slow braising keeps the meat moist and tender.
Pork
Lays fat and savoury flavour under the turkey as it braises.
Onions
Release sweetness and flavour into the stock and gravy as they simmer.
Carrots
Add sweetness and body to the stock that becomes the gravy.
Stock
Provides the liquid that cooks the turkey and forms the base of the gravy.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for 4 to 6 hours. A rapid boil toughens the meat and dries it out. Gentle, low heat under a tight cover lets collagen break down slowly, keeping the turkey tender and moist.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, pork, clove, carrot, parsnip, pepper):

  1. Turnipfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, pork, clove, carrot, parsnip, pepper. 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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