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Roast Turkey

A roasted turkey stuffed with sausage or veal, served with fried sausages, brown gravy, and bread sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Turkey and bread work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 822 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. 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

  1. Make an incision at the back of the neck.

  2. Cut away the vent.

  3. Remove the insides.

  4. Reserve the liver and gizzard.

  5. Clean the liver and gizzard.

  6. Tuck them into slits in the wings.

  7. Cut off the head and neck.

  8. Scald the feet.

  9. Remove the skin and claws.

Stuff and roast

  1. Stuff the turkey with sausage meat or veal stuffing.

  2. Truss the turkey with skewers or string.

  3. Roast the turkey in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  4. Baste frequently to keep it moist.

Serve

  1. Serve the turkey with fried sausages.

  2. Pour brown gravy over the turkey.

  3. Serve bread sauce separately.

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

  3. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Turkey + saucetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together531 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Bread + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,934 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Forms the main roast; its meat and skin are the dish's centrepiece.
Sausage meat or veal stuffing
Fills the cavity, adding savoury flavour and moisture as it cooks inside the bird.
Sausages
Fried separately and served alongside, adding savoury browned flavour.
Brown gravy
Adds moisture and savoury richness over the roasted turkey.
Bread sauce
Served separately, adding a soft, mild texture that balances the rich meat.

The step that matters

Roast the turkey in a 400°F (200°C) oven. Turkey breast cooks faster than the thighs and can dry out before the legs are done. Basting frequently helps keep the surface moist while the heat browns the skin.

“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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