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Turkey in a Hurry

A whole turkey stuffed with breadcrumbs, oysters, herbs, and shallot, then roasted in lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Turkey in a Hurry

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Truss the turkey with the legs inwards and flatten it as much as possible.

  2. Heat melted lard in a stewpan.

Stuff and cook

  1. Stuff the turkey with breadcrumbs, chopped oysters, salt, pepper, shallot, thyme, and parsley.

  2. Place the stuffed turkey in the stewpan and cook until done.

Serve

  1. Serve with oyster sauce or gravy made from the bones.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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 and carries the stuffing while it cooks.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and juices, giving the stuffing a softer, bound texture.
Chopped oysters
Add a briny, savory flavor that combines with the stuffing.
Melted lard
Adds fat that promotes browning and a rich, tender skin.

The step that matters

Place the stuffed turkey in the stewpan and cook until done. A stuffed bird is thick and dense, so the centre of the stuffing can stay cold while the outside overcooks. Check that the stuffing and the thickest part of the meat reach a safe internal temperature before serving.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, pepper, thyme, parsley, oyster):

  1. Shallotthe original
  2. Carrotfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits less well
  4. Parsnipfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, pepper, thyme, parsley, oyster. 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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