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Devilled Turkey

A fried or baked turkey leg coated in a seasoned sauce and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and anchovy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Devilled Turkey

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Trim the legs of the cold turkey and steep them in oiled butter.

  2. Sprinkle the legs with cayenne pepper, curry powder, and coarse sea salt.

Make the coating

  1. In a bowl, mix Worcestershire sauce, thick white sauce, anchovy sauce, and prepared mustard.

  2. Spread the mixture completely over the turkey legs.

  3. Once set, coat the legs in egg and breadcrumbs.

Cook and serve

  1. Fry in hot fat or lard, or bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 15 minutes.

  2. Garnish with parsley and serve.

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. Sauce + anchovytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  3. Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Turkey + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together83 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Legs of a cold turkey
Provides the meat that is coated and cooked as the main dish.
Thick white sauce
Forms a thick, creamy base that helps the spiced coating cling to the turkey.
Egg
Binds the breadcrumbs to the turkey so the crust holds during cooking.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust when fried or baked.
Prepared mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavour that complements the rich meat.

The step that matters

Coating the legs in egg and breadcrumbs once the mixture has set. If the spread layer is not set before breading, the egg and crumbs can slide off or soak into the paste. A firm base gives an even, intact crust that browns evenly in hot fat or the oven.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, butter, pepper, sauce, anchovy, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, butter, pepper, sauce, anchovy, egg. 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.

More deviled turkey recipes

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