Why it works: Thyme and summer savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 214 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Roast Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stuffing
Mix bread crumbs, sausage meat or sweet salt pork, thyme, summer savory, onion, pepper, and coarse sea salt to prepare stuffing.
If using, chop liver and heart and mix with the stuffing.
Stuff and truss
Fill the turkey's body with the stuffing, sew up the opening, and truss it.
Optionally, place a ring of sausages around the neck of the turkey.
Roast and serve
Place the turkey in a pan with 1 cup of hot water and roast slowly, basting frequently.
If there is a risk of scorching, cover the breast with white paper.
Roast for 2.5 to 3 hours, until cooked through.
Serve with rich brown gravy and browned sausages on the breast.
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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Thyme + summer savorytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together214 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Summer savory + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together671 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,171 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Summer savory + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together299 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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 stuffing and absorb juices, keeping it moist.
- Sausage meat or sweet salt pork
- Adds fat and savoury flavour that carries through the stuffing.
- Onion
- Adds aromatic sweetness and moisture to the stuffing as it cooks.
- Thyme
- Contributes herbal aroma that complements the poultry and stuffing.
The step that matters
Roast slowly and baste frequently. Slow roasting with regular basting keeps the lean breast meat from drying out while the dense bird cooks through to the centre, and covering the breast guards against scorching.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, meat, thyme, summer savory, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, meat, thyme, summer savory, pepper. 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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