Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Roast Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the turkey
Remove all feathers from the turkey.
Singe it over a burning newspaper.
Carefully draw the turkey, avoiding breaking any internal organs.
Remove the crop.
Cut off the head.
Tie the neck close to the body with the skin.
Rinse the inside of the turkey with several waters.
Add baking soda to the second to last rinse.
Wipe the turkey dry inside and out with a clean cloth.
Rub the inside with salt.
Stuff and season
Stuff with your choice of dressing.
Sew up the turkey with strong thread.
Tie the legs and wings to the body.
Rub the outside with soft butter.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Dredge with flour.
Roast
Place the turkey in a dripping pan.
Pour in boiling water.
Set in the oven at 400°F (200°C).
Baste the turkey often.
Turn it occasionally for even cooking.
Cook for 3 to 4 hours, until the juices run clear when pierced with a fork.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,592 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Turkey + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,636 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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
- Turkey
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to tender meat as it roasts.
- Baking soda
- Raises the pH of the rinse water, helping the skin and meat stay tender and brown.
- Soft butter
- Adds fat that promotes browning and enriches the skin's flavor and color.
- Flour
- Dusted on the skin, it helps the surface brown and crisp during roasting.
The step that matters
Cook for 3 to 4 hours, until the juices run clear when pierced with a fork.. Turkey is safely cooked only when the thickest parts reach a safe internal temperature. Juices running clear is a rough visual sign, so a thermometer is more reliable, and overcooking dries the meat.
“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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