Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
To Boil a Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean the turkey by removing feathers and singeing hair with burning paper without blackening the skin.
Wipe the inside with a damp cloth.
Cut off the legs at the first joints.
Remove the sinews.
Pull down the skin.
Tuck the legs inside.
Stuff and truss
Mix the stuffing ingredients.
Fill the breast, leaving room for expansion.
Sew the skin over the opening.
Place the liver in one wing and the gizzard in the other, securing the wings to the sides with a skewer.
Boil
Wrap the turkey in a cloth.
Boil gently in hot water until cooked.
Ensure the turkey is always covered with water while boiling.
Serve
Place the turkey on a hot dish.
Pour some sauce over the breast.
Serve the remainder in a sauce tureen.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + turkeytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together822 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Turkey
- Forms the main meat, which cooks gently in water to stay moist and tender.
- Bread crumbs
- Provide the bulk of the stuffing and absorb the butter and moisture.
- Butter or suet
- Adds fat and richness, keeping the stuffing moist and flavourful.
- Eggs
- Bind the stuffing so it holds together when cooked.
- Milk
- Moistens the stuffing so the crumbs soften and hold together.
- Parsley
- Adds fresh, herbal aroma and flavour to the stuffing.
The step that matters
Keep the turkey covered with water while boiling. Exposed parts dry out and cook unevenly. Boiling gently rather than vigorously keeps the meat tender and prevents the skin from tearing and the flesh from toughening.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, pepper, egg, milk, turkey):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Sagefits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, pepper, egg, milk, turkey. 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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