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Minced Turkey and Eggs

A baked pudding of minced turkey, eggs, and butter, topped with breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Minced Turkey and Eggs

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 the stock

  1. Remove all meat from the turkey skeleton.

  2. Place bones, sinews, skin, and stuffing in a pot with 3 quarts of cold water.

  3. Simmer until reduced to 2 quarts.

  4. Season the stock and set aside in a stock pot.

Make the pudding mixture

  1. Tear the turkey meat into 1-inch pieces.

  2. Heat the skimmed gravy.

  3. Add drawn butter, beaten eggs, salt, and pepper.

  4. Stir in the minced turkey.

  5. Heat until very hot.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover the bottom of a pudding dish with fine crumbs.

  2. Pour the mixture into the dish.

  3. Top with more crumbs.

  4. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until light brown.

  5. Serve in the baking dish.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Turkey + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together822 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Meat + turkeytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together540 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beaten eggs
Bind the mixture and set it into a firm, custard-like pudding when baked.
Drawn butter
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the pudding tender rather than dry.
Turkey meat
Forms the main body of the pudding, giving it substance and savory flavor.
Fine bread crumbs
Form a topping that browns in the oven and adds a light, crisp finish.

The step that matters

Heat until very hot before baking. Heating the mixture with the eggs before baking helps the egg proteins begin setting evenly, so the pudding bakes into a uniform texture rather than curdling or staying loose.

“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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