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To Broil a Turkey

A method for broiling a small turkey with salt, pepper, butter, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Turkey and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,592 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

To Broil a Turkey

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Split the turkey as you would a chicken for broiling.

  2. Place it in a roasting pan and season with salt, pepper, and butter.

  3. Add ½ cup of water to the pan.

Cook and serve

  1. Cook until the meat is tender, then broil over a slow fire.

  2. When browned, transfer to a hot platter, spread with butter, and season with salt.

  3. Save any liquid left in the pan for chestnut sauce to pour around the turkey.

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 + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender through slow cooking and browns under the broiler.
Butter
Adds fat that carries flavour and promotes browning on the surface of the meat.
Water
Creates steam and moisture in the pan, helping the meat cook through gently and keeping it from drying.

The step that matters

Cook until the meat is tender, then broil over a slow fire. Slow cooking first lets the connective tissue soften and the meat cook through. Finishing under a fierce heat only browns the surface, so cooking through before browning prevents a dry exterior around undercooked or tough 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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