Why it works: Turkey and pork work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 830 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Boast Turkey Partly Boned
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
Remove all feathers from the turkey, singe it, and wipe it with a wet towel.
Lay the bird on its breast and cut down the middle of the back in a straight line.
Cut from the neck downward, finding and unjointing the wings and thighs, leaving the bones in the flesh.
Free the carcass from the flesh without cutting through the outer skin.
Lay the flesh skin-side down on the table and season with salt and pepper.
Remove the gall from the liver and place it on the skin of the neck.
Lay the oyster force-meat on the flesh of the bird.
Draw the skin together at the back and sew it with large stitches, ensuring enough force-meat fills the turkey.
Truss the bird with skewers or string to restore its shape.
Tie a large thin slice of fat salt pork over the breast.
Roast and serve
Roast before an open fire or bake in a hot oven (400°F) for about 20 minutes per pound.
Baste the bird every 15 minutes with drippings, seasoning it when brown.
If a frothed surface is desired, dredge the turkey with flour before basting.
When done, remove the skewers or strings and serve with gravy made from the drippings.
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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Turkey + porktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together830 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Liver + porktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,606 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
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Meat + porktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,208 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Oyster + porktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,255 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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Turkey
- Forms the main body of the dish, and its flesh cooks through to become tender and juicy.
- Oyster force-meat
- Stuffing that fills the bird, adding moisture and flavour to the surrounding meat as it cooks.
- Fat salt pork
- Laid over the breast, it melts during roasting, basting the meat and keeping it moist.
- Liver from the turkey
- Adds rich, savoury flavour to the stuffing and gravy once its gall is removed.
The step that matters
Basting and roasting time. Roasting by weight at high heat can dry out the breast before the thighs are cooked. Regular basting with drippings keeps the surface moist and helps it brown evenly.
“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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