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Turkey, Braised, Plain

A braised turkey cooked with sliced vegetables, ham, giblets, cloves, peppercorns, herbs, stock, and roux.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Turkey, Braised, Plain

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a large pan, combine sliced vegetables, fat ham, giblets, cloves, peppercorns, and herbs.

  3. Add ½ cup of plain stock and cover with buttered paper.

Braise

  1. Cover the pan and shake it often for about 30 minutes.

  2. Cook the turkey for 2 to 5 hours, depending on its size and age.

Glaze and serve

  1. Once cooked, remove the fat ham and glaze the breast.

  2. Skim and reduce the gravy, then thicken it with brown roux.

  3. Serve the turkey with gravy poured over it, and garnish with vegetables.

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. Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,592 recipes

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

  2. Turkey + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together303 recipes

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

  3. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

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

  4. Turkey + clovetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together212 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Ham + clovetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,666 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through slow, moist cooking.
Fat ham
Adds savory fat and salty flavor that seasons the braising liquid and the meat.
Giblets
Add concentrated meaty flavor to the stock and gravy as they cook.
Plain stock
Supplies liquid that keeps the turkey moist and forms the base of the gravy.
Brown roux
Thickens the gravy, giving it body and a toasted, nutty flavor.

The step that matters

Cooking the turkey for 2 to 5 hours. Connective tissue in the turkey breaks down only slowly at low, moist heat. Cooking too briefly leaves meat tough, while the wide time range depends on size and age, so checking tenderness matters.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, ham, butter):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, ham, butter. 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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