Name: Truffled Turkey
Ingredients: 1.5 pounds fresh truffles; 2 pounds fat bacon; Salt; Pepper; 1 young, plump, freshly-killed hen turkey; Butter for basting

Why it works: Truffle and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,209 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Truffled Turkey

Ingredients

Directions

Select a young turkey and prepare 1.5 pounds of truffles for a medium bird or 2 pounds for a large one.
Wash the truffles thoroughly and cut 1 pound into 1.5-inch balls.
Pound the remaining truffles with the bacon until smooth, seasoning with salt and pepper.
Mix the truffle balls into the forcemeat and stuff the turkey.
Hang the stuffed turkey for 5-6 days before roasting.
Before roasting, place a slice of bacon on the turkey's breast and cover with buttered paper, basting frequently.

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.

Truffle + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,209 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,592 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Truffle + turkeytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together167 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Pepper + turkeytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,636 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).