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Turkey Poult, Cold, to Re-cook

A method for reheating leftover turkey with a mushroom and stock sauce, finished with lemon and parsley garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Turkey Poult, Cold, to Re-cook

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, combine turkey poult, white stock, parsley, shallot, and chopped mushrooms.

  2. Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and grated nutmeg. Simmer until the sauce is flavorful and reduced.

  3. Strain the sauce and thicken it with white roux or a mixture of flour and butter.

  4. Add an equal amount of new milk or cream and stir over heat until it boils.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the turkey pieces and simmer until heated through, ensuring the sauce does not boil.

  2. Transfer the meat to a hot dish, pour the sauce over it, and garnish with sliced lemon and parsley.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Shallot + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Leftover turkey poult
Provides the main meat, which is gently reheated in the sauce.
White stock
Forms the liquid base of the sauce and carries its savoury flavour.
White roux or flour and butter
Thickens the sauce so it clings to the meat instead of running off.
New milk or cream
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the sauce.
Mushrooms
Contribute earthy flavour and body to the simmered sauce.
Shallot
Adds a mild, aromatic onion flavour that builds the sauce base.

The step that matters

Do not let the sauce boil after adding the milk or cream. Once dairy is added, boiling can cause it to curdle or separate, leaving a grainy, broken sauce. Gentle heat keeps it smooth while the turkey warms through.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, parsley, shallot, mushroom, pepper, flour, milk):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, parsley, shallot, mushroom, pepper, flour, milk. 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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