Name: Turkey with Truffles
Ingredients: 1 fat turkey; 3-4 pounds truffles; a handful of fat bacon; salt; pepper; spices; 1 bay leaf

Why it works: Turkey and truffle work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 167 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Turkey with Truffles

Ingredients

Directions

Clean and singe the turkey. If the gall bladder or intestines burst, wash the inside carefully.
Peel the truffles and chop a handful with the bacon.
In a saucepan, combine the chopped truffles, whole truffles, salt, pepper, spices, and bay leaf. Cook over low heat for 45 minutes.
Remove from heat, stir, and let cool completely.
Stuff the cooled mixture into the turkey, sew up the opening, and let it sit for several days to absorb the flavors.
When ready to cook, cover the turkey with thin slices of bacon.

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.

Turkey + truffletop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together167 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Turkey + peppertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,636 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Truffle + peppertop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,106 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).