Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
To Boil a Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the turkey
Select a plump hen turkey and prepare it by picking and drawing carefully.
Singe the turkey with writing paper.
Remove the head and neck.
Cut through the skin around the first joint of the legs, then fasten the turkey to a strong hook and pull the bird away to draw off the legs.
Wash the turkey thoroughly, then wipe it dry.
Fill the breast with the chosen forcemeat.
Truss the turkey by drawing the legs into the body.
Break the breastbone for a plump appearance.
Boil and serve
Place the turkey in plenty of warm water.
Carefully remove any scum that rises to the surface.
Boil gently for 1.5 to 2.25 hours, depending on the size of the turkey.
Serve with oyster sauce, celery sauce, or white sauce, along with boiled tongue, small ham, or cheek of bacon.
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.
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Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Turkey + meattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together540 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,592 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hen turkey
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked whole by gentle boiling.
- Forcemeat
- Fills the breast, adding moisture and flavour to the lean meat as it cooks.
The step that matters
Boil gently and skim the scum. Gentle simmering keeps the meat tender and prevents it from toughening or breaking apart, while skimming removes impurities that rise to the surface and would cloud the liquid and spoil its appearance.
Swap the celery
The recipe marks celery as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, meat, oyster, sauce, ham, parsley, butter):
- Thymefits better
- Capersfits about as well
- Celerythe original
- Marjoramfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, meat, oyster, sauce, ham, parsley, butter. 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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