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Braised Turkey

A whole turkey braised with bacon, carrots, onions, garlic, herbs, and sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Braised Turkey

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Stuff the turkey with the breadcrumb stuffing.

  2. Place bacon slices at the bottom of a stewpan.

  3. Add the turkey, carrots, onions, garlic, sweet herbs, parsley, bay leaf, peppercorns, and salt.

  4. Moisten with sherry and clear stock to the height of the turkey.

Braise

  1. Cover the pan with buttered paper.

  2. Place the lid on the pan.

  3. Put hot ashes on the lid.

  4. Braise over a slow fire for about four hours.

Finish and serve

  1. Once cooked, place the turkey on a hot dish.

  2. Strain the cooking liquid into a small saucepan.

  3. Skim off the fat.

  4. Boil the liquid again.

  5. Pour the strained liquid over the turkey.

  6. Garnish with potato croquettes and Brussels sprouts.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

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

  4. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender as it cooks slowly in liquid.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aroma to the braising liquid, helping flavour penetrate the meat.
Bacon
Releases fat as it cooks, adding savoury flavour and moisture to the pan.
Clear stock
Provides the braising liquid that keeps the turkey moist and builds the sauce.
Carrots
Release sweetness and body into the braising liquid as they cook.
Onions
Soften and add savoury depth to the braising liquid.

The step that matters

Braise over a slow fire. Slow, gentle heat lets the connective tissue in the turkey break down into tender meat. Fast boiling toughens the muscle fibres and dries the meat, so the liquid should only simmer.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, carrot, onion, garlic, parsley, sherry):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, carrot, onion, garlic, parsley, sherry. 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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