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Turkey Scallop

A baked casserole of finely chopped cold turkey layered with bread crumbs, butter, and a cracker‑crumb custard topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Turkey Scallop

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Remove the meat from the bones of cold turkey and chop it finely.

Assemble the layers

  1. Layer bread crumbs in a buttered dish and moisten with a little milk.

  2. Add a layer of turkey and some filling, then place small pieces of butter on top.

  3. Sprinkle with pepper and coarse sea salt, then add another layer of bread crumbs.

  4. Repeat layers until the dish is nearly full.

  5. Add a little hot water to the turkey gravy and pour it over the layers.

Top and bake

  1. In a bowl, mix 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and a little salt with enough cracker crumbs to thicken.

  2. Spread the mixture over the top, add bits of butter, and cover with a plate.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.

  4. Remove the plate for the last 10 minutes to let it brown.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Turkey + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together540 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the topping and help it set into a custard-like layer as it bakes.
Cracker crumbs
Thicken the egg mixture so it spreads over the top without running.
Bread crumbs
Form the absorbent layers that soak up milk and gravy and hold the dish together.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the top brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Remove the plate for the last 10 minutes. Covering the dish traps steam so the top stays pale and soft. Removing the cover lets dry heat brown the surface, which is what gives the top its colour.

“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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