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Boast Turkey Poult

A roast young turkey, stuffed with a seasoned calf's tongue, served with gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Turkey and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,636 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Boast Turkey Poult

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the bird

  1. Remove the feathers from the turkey poult, singe it, and wipe it with a wet towel.

  2. Draw the turkey without breaking the intestines.

  3. Wash the calf's tongue(s) thoroughly and season with salt and cayenne.

  4. Place the tongue inside the turkey, sew it up, and truss the bird.

Roast

  1. Roast the turkey over an open fire, browning it on all sides and turning frequently.

  2. After about 45 minutes, check the juice at the leg joint; if brown, it's done; if red, continue cooking.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Change the dripping pan, pour out most drippings, and set it over the fire.

  2. Stir in the flour until brown, then gradually add boiling water, stirring until smooth.

  3. Season the gravy with salt and pepper.

  4. Once the turkey is done, remove trussing cords and serve with gravy and carved tongue.

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. Turkey + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,636 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Turkey + flourtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together963 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey poult
Forms the main roasted body that holds the stuffing and cooks to juicy, browned meat.
Calf's tongue
Supplies the stuffing and carved meat, adding richness and savoury flavour to the bird.
Flour
Browned in the drippings, it thickens the boiling water into a smooth gravy.

The step that matters

Checking doneness at the leg joint. Poultry is safe when cooked through, and the juice running clear or brown at the leg joint is the visual sign of this. Pink or red juice means the bird needs more cooking, so check before serving.

“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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