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Roast Turkey

A roasted turkey stuffed with a breadcrumb and herb dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Roast Turkey

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the turkey

  1. Singe, draw, and clean the turkey well.

  2. Cut the skin on the back of the neck to remove the crop and neck.

  3. Stuff a small portion of the dressing into the cavity and sew it up neatly.

  4. Fill the body with the remaining dressing and truss the turkey.

  5. Place the fat taken from inside the turkey over the legs and wings.

Roast

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Roast the turkey for 10 minutes per pound, basting often.

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 + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and browns as it roasts.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the dressing a soft, cohesive body.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the dressing moist and rich during roasting.
Egg yolk
Binds the dressing together and adds richness.
Grated lemon rind
Adds bright aroma from its oils without adding much liquid.

The step that matters

Roast the turkey for 10 minutes per pound, basting often. Weight-based timing is only an estimate, because a stuffed cavity slows heat reaching the centre. Basting keeps the surface moist while the interior cooks, so the bird should be checked for doneness in its thickest parts rather than trusted to the clock alone.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, bread, ham, parsley, lemon, pepper, egg):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Sagefits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, bread, ham, parsley, lemon, pepper, egg. 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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