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Roast Turkey, with Giblet Gravy

Roast turkey served with a gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Turkey and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,636 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Roast Turkey, with Giblet Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the turkey

  1. Singe and clean the turkey as directed.

  2. Gently lift the skin from the breast without breaking it.

  3. Place a thin layer of stuffing between the skin and flesh, then fill the body cavity lightly with the remaining stuffing.

  4. Draw the neck skin over the back and fasten with a skewer.

  5. Tuck the tips of the wings under the back and secure with a skewer.

  6. Make an incision near the opening where the entrails were removed and insert the drumsticks, tying them together.

  7. Sew up the vent where the stuffing was added.

  8. Moisten the skin with a little water and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and flour.

Roast and baste

  1. Place the turkey in a roasting pan with a little water and roast for 20 minutes per pound.

  2. After 25 minutes, baste with the pan juices and continue to baste every 15 minutes until fully cooked.

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. Turkey + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,636 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Turkey + flourtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together963 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

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, cooked through by long roasting with its skin and flesh.
Stuffing
Fills the cavity and sits under the skin, flavouring the meat and adding moisture as it cooks.
Flour
Dusted on the skin, it helps the skin brown and crisp during roasting.
Water
Moistens the skin and the pan, creating steam and pan juices that keep the bird from drying out.

The step that matters

Basting during roasting. Spooning pan juices over the bird keeps the skin moist and helps it brown evenly. Basting too rarely, or letting the pan dry out, can leave the skin pale and the meat dry.

“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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