Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
To Boil a Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the turkey in a mixture of salt and water for a few minutes.
Stuff the turkey with the bread and butter mixture, seasoned with pepper, salt, parsley, and thyme.
Secure the legs to prevent them from bursting out.
Blanch the turkey in warm milk and water.
Rub the turkey's breasts with butter and flour, a cloth to pin it in place.
Boil
Boil the turkey in water that is already boiling for about three hours for a large turkey, or one and a half hours for a small one.
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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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Turkey + thymetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together233 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Turkey
- Is the main subject of the dish, cooked whole by boiling.
- Bread
- Soaks up butter and juices inside the bird, adding moisture to the stuffing.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and keeping the stuffing and skin moist.
The step that matters
Boil the turkey in water that is already boiling. Adding the turkey to water that is already at a boil keeps the cooking water hot from the start, so the bird cooks evenly and the meat is not left sitting in lukewarm water.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, bread, butter, pepper, thyme):
- Sagefits better
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Rosemaryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, bread, butter, pepper, thyme. 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.
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