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Turkey in a Hurry

A quick braised turkey cooked with lard, parsley, shallots, mushrooms, garlic, lemon, veal, ham, wine, and broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Turkey in a Hurry

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Truss the turkey with the legs inward and flatten it as much as possible.

  2. In a stewpan, heat melted lard and sauté parsley, shallots, mushrooms, and garlic for a few minutes.

  3. Add lemon juice to the turkey to keep it white, then transfer it to another stewpan.

Braise

  1. Add veal, ham, melted lard, whole pepper, and salt to the turkey.

  2. Cover with slices of lard and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes.

  3. Add white wine and broth, then finish braising the turkey.

Finish and serve

  1. Skim and sift the sauce, add cullis to thicken, and reduce to a good consistency.

  2. Place the turkey on a dish and pour the sauce over it.

  3. Garnish with lemon.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  5. Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Is the main protein, cooked slowly by braising so it becomes tender.
Lard
Adds fat that carries flavour and keeps the turkey moist during cooking.
Veal
Adds meaty richness and body to the braising liquid and sauce.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the braising liquid.
Broth
Provides liquid for braising and builds the savoury base of the sauce.
Cullis
Thickens the sauce to a richer, clinging consistency.

The step that matters

Keeping the turkey braising gently. Cooking over low heat with the turkey covered lets the connective tissue soften slowly and keeps the meat moist. A hard boil would toughen the meat and reduce the liquid too quickly.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, parsley, shallot, mushroom, garlic, lemon, veal):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, parsley, shallot, mushroom, garlic, lemon, veal. 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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