Name: Roast Turkey
Ingredients: 1 large turkey (about 8 pounds, preferably female); 1 cup butter; 1 medium onion, chopped fine; Salt and pepper to taste; Giblets from the turkey; Dry bread, chopped (not too fine); Sage (to taste); 1 pint oysters (optional); 3 slices of bacon (for each leg)

Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Roast Turkey

Ingredients

Directions

Select a large turkey and prepare it by removing pin feathers with a sharp knife.
Singe the turkey carefully and remove giblets and excess fat from inside.
Wash the turkey inside and out, then dry with a soft cloth.
In a skillet, cover giblets with water and cook until tender, then chop finely.
Add 1 cup of butter, chopped onion, salt, pepper, and giblets to the skillet and heat the mixture.
Chop dry bread and mix it with the seasoned liquid and a little sage; add hot water if too dry.
Stuff the turkey with the mixture, but do not pack it tightly; the neck can be stuffed fully.
Tie the skin near the neck and sew it up, then cover each leg with 3 slices of bacon.
Wrap each leg with a soft cloth and sew it on, then tie the legs to the back of 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.

Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Turkey + sagetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together154 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Turkey + breadtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together822 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Swap the onion

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

Capsicumfits better
Shallotfits better
Tomatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, butter, pepper, bread, sage, oyster. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.