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Roast Chicken or Turkey

A whole chicken or turkey is boiled, then roasted with butter, flour, and a breadcrumb dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Roast Chicken or Turkey

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the bird

  1. Clean the chicken or turkey.

  2. Rub it with salt and pepper.

  3. Fill the cavity.

  4. Tie the legs and wings close to the body.

  5. Pin it in a cloth.

  6. Place it in boiling salted water.

  7. Cook for 20 minutes per pound until fairly tender.

  8. Remove the cloth.

Make the dressing

  1. Mix 2 cups of soft bread crumbs with sage, thyme, marjoram, salt, and pepper.

  2. Moisten the dressing with ½ cup melted butter and enough hot water to make it quite moist.

  3. Add 1 beaten egg to the dressing.

Roast and baste

  1. Dredge with salt, pepper, and flour.

  2. Rub well with butter.

  3. Place on a rack in a pan.

  4. Add 1 cup of water.

  5. Bake in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C).

  6. Baste every 10 minutes.

  7. Dredge with salt and flour after each basting.

  8. Cook until the legs separate from the body and the chicken or turkey is a rich brown.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Sage + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together507 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken or turkey
Forms the main body of the dish; its fat and meat cook into the roast.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the skin brown and the dressing taste rich.
Flour
Dusted on the skin, it helps the surface brown and crisp.
Soft bread crumbs
Provide the bulk and structure of the dressing that soaks up moisture.
Egg
Binds the dressing so it holds together when cooked.

The step that matters

Cook until the legs separate from the body and the chicken or turkey is a rich brown.. Legs that loosen show the joints and thick meat are cooked through. Browning comes from Maillard reactions on the surface, so underdone birds look pale and overcooked ones dry out before the centre is done.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, flour, butter, bread, thyme, marjoram):

  1. Sagethe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Winter savoryfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, flour, butter, bread, thyme, marjoram. 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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