Why it works: Turkey and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,592 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
To Boil a Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the turkey
Truss the turkey by cutting off the legs at the first joint and drawing the upper leg into the body.
Break the breastbone and fill the crop with forcemeat, then tie it up securely.
Enclose the turkey in a napkin if desired.
Boil
Remove scum as it rises to avoid waste.
Add warm water to a pot, then add salt and butter.
Bring the water to a simmer and add the turkey.
Simmer gently for about two hours, monitoring the scum.
Serve
Serve with a good white sauce and accompany with boiled ham, tongue, or cheek of bacon.
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.
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Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,592 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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, its meat cooking gently in the simmering water.
- Forcemeat
- Fills the crop, adding flavor and moisture to the bird as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the cooked meat a softer, rounder flavor.
The step that matters
Keeping the water at a gentle simmer and removing scum. Scum that rises during cooking can cloud the broth and cling to the bird if left on the surface. A gentle simmer, rather than a hard boil, keeps the meat tender and the liquid clear.
“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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