Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓
To Boil a Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stuffing
Mix oysters, bread crumbs, parsley, butter, cream, and egg yolks in a bowl until well combined.
Stuff the mixture into the turkey's cavity.
Sew the skin closed.
Dredge the turkey with flour.
Skewer the liver and gizzard to the sides under the wings.
Cook and serve
Place the turkey in a large pot covered with cold water.
Bring the pot to a boil over medium heat.
Skim off any scum that rises for 30 minutes.
Remove the pot from heat.
Set it on hot coals to stew slowly for 2 to 2.5 hours, depending on the turkey's size.
Heat the turkey again over the fire before serving.
Serve with oyster sauce in a small tureen.
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.
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oysters
- Provide the savory, briny flavor that defines the stuffing.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and give the stuffing body and a soft texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that keeps the stuffing moist and tender.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the stuffing together and help it set as it cooks.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, keeping the stuffing soft.
The step that matters
Remove the pot from heat and hold a slow stew. Once the turkey boils, it must be kept at a gentle stew rather than a hard boil, because vigorous boiling toughens meat and can break apart the cooked stuffing.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, bread, butter, cream, egg, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Capersfits better
- Parsleythe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, bread, butter, cream, egg, flour. 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.
More turkey with oysters recipes
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipes
Oatmeal Bread51 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.