Skip to main content
Main

Turkey Stuffing

A savory mixture of oysters, butter, bread, eggs, herbs, and seasonings used to fill a turkey.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Parsley and summer savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 241 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Turkey Stuffing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oysters

  1. Remove gills from oysters and scald them in a saucepan, then drain.

Make the stuffing

  1. Melt butter in a deep skillet without letting it get hot.

  2. Beat the egg yolks and stir them into the melted butter.

  3. Add parsley, celery, summer savory, salt, and pepper, then mix in the bread.

  4. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them into the mixture.

  5. Gently fold in the oysters and use the stuffing while warm to fill the turkey.

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. Parsley + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together241 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Celery + summer savorytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together106 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks enrich the stuffing and whites, beaten to stiff peaks, lighten its texture and help bind it.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor and keeping the bread moist.
Bread
Forms the body of the stuffing and soaks up butter and egg for a moist interior.
Oysters
Contribute their briny, savory flavor and tender texture to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Melt the butter without letting it get hot. Overheating butter can cause it to separate and brown or scorch, giving a bitter taste and a greasy texture. Gentle melting keeps it smooth so it blends evenly with the egg yolks and bread.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, butter, bread, egg, parsley, summer savory, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, butter, bread, egg, parsley, summer savory, pepper. 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 stuffing recipes

Chestnut 4Mexican 3 See all 51 →

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipesBread OmeletteBread Omelette60 recipes