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Turkey Scallop

A baked casserole of finely chopped cold turkey layered with bread crumbs, butter, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 Scallop

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the layers

  1. Remove the meat from the bones of the cold cooked turkey and chop it finely.

  2. In a buttered pudding dish, layer bread crumbs.

  3. Moisten the bread crumbs with a little milk.

  4. Add a layer of turkey and some cold dressing.

  5. Place small pieces of butter on top.

  6. Sprinkle with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  7. Add another layer of bread crumbs.

  8. Repeat layers until the dish is nearly full.

Add the liquids and topping

  1. Add a little hot water to the leftover turkey gravy.

  2. Pour the hot water over the layers.

  3. In a bowl, beat the eggs with 2 tablespoons of milk, 1 tablespoon of melted butter, and a little salt.

  4. Stir in enough cracker crumbs to spread thickly over the top of the dish.

  5. Dot with small bits of butter.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover with a plate.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.

  3. About 10 minutes before serving, remove the plate to let it brown.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Turkey + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together822 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Turkey + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together281 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs
Form the bulk of the layers and soak up the liquid to create a soft, moist body.
Eggs
Bind the custard-like liquid so the layers set rather than stay loose.
Cold cooked turkey
Provides the main protein and savory flavor in the layers.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that keeps the crumbs moist and helps the top brown.
Milk
Moistens the crumbs and enriches the egg mixture for a tender texture.

The step that matters

Remove the plate before serving. Covering the dish traps steam so the top stays pale and soft; uncovering for the final minutes lets dry heat brown the crumbs and cracker topping.

“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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