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Turkey, Roast

A roasted turkey stuffed with veal forcemeat, coated in bacon and buttered paper, glazed and served with gravy and bread sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Turkey, Roast

Oven, in the book's wordsA fairly fierce oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a fairly fierce oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the turkey

  1. Truss the turkey for roasting and stuff it with veal forcemeat.

  2. Cover the turkey with thin slices of bacon and then with buttered or oiled paper, tying it on with thread.

Roast and glaze

  1. Roast the turkey in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 3.5 hours for a 15-pound turkey.

  2. Remove the paper and bacon half an hour before serving.

  3. Paint the breast with thick rich glaze to color it.

  4. Cook pork sausages in the pan with the turkey.

Serve

  1. Serve with hot brown gravy and bread sauce.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Turkey + porktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together830 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Turkey + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 body of the dish, cooking to tender meat under the protective covering.
Veal forcemeat
Fills the cavity, adding moisture and rich flavor as it cooks with the bird.
Thin slices of fat bacon
Lays over the breast, basting the meat with melting fat and protecting it from drying.
Thick rich glaze
Caramelizes on the breast surface, giving it color and a browned finish.

The step that matters

Removing the paper and bacon half an hour before serving. Taking off the covering late lets the breast brown and color evenly, while keeping it on too long leaves the skin pale and soft.

“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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