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Galantine of Turkey

A roasted turkey stuffed with forcemeat, bacon, and gravy, served with sausages and aspic garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Turkey and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,636 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Galantine of Turkey

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the turkey

  1. Pluck the turkey.

  2. Singe the turkey.

  3. Wipe the turkey.

  4. Draw the sinews.

  5. Fold over the pinions.

  6. Pass a skewer through the pinions and body.

  7. Catch the top part of the legs.

  8. Tie the bottom part of the legs.

  9. Fill the loose skin of the breast with forcemeat.

  10. Skewer down.

  11. Cover with fat bacon or greased paper.

Roast

  1. Hang in a 300°F oven.

  2. Roast slowly, allowing 10 to 12 minutes per pound.

  3. Remove the bacon or paper.

  4. Hang sausages over the turkey.

Make the gravy

  1. Pour off the fat.

  2. Add flour and giblet stock.

  3. Season.

  4. Boil.

  5. Add browning if necessary.

  6. Strain.

Serve

  1. Dish the bird.

  2. Garnish with sausages.

  3. Pour over some gravy.

  4. Serve the remainder in a tureen.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Turkey + flourtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together963 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

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

What each ingredient does

Forcemeat
Fills the breast, cooking into a moist, savoury stuffing as the bird roasts.
Fat bacon
Laid over the breast, it bastes the bird and keeps the meat moist while roasting.
Flour
Thickens the pan juices into a smooth gravy with the stock.
Stock
Made from giblets, it forms the liquid base of the gravy and adds savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Roast slowly, allowing 10 to 12 minutes per pound.. Low, slow heat lets the large bird cook through evenly without drying the outside, while the fat covering protects the breast. Cooking time depends on weight, so the bird should be checked for doneness rather than trusted to the clock alone.

“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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