Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Turkey Boned and Forced
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the turkey
Remove all bones from the turkey except for the pinions, without opening the bird.
Shape the turkey, then fill it with sausage meat, starting with the legs and wings.
Plump the breast and restore the turkey's original form.
Tie the turkey securely at both ends and the legs.
Insert a skewer through the ends and body.
Insert another skewer through the wings and body.
Tie twine over the back.
Secure the twine under the skewer ends and over the pinions.
Support and flour
If a cradle spit is unavailable, use a bottle jack to support the turkey by passing the hook through the neck.
Flour the turkey well.
Roast and baste
Place the turkey far from the fire until heated through, basting continuously with butter.
Roast for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Make the gravy
For gravy, boil the bones in 1½ pints of water with a little salt, celery slices, peppercorns, and parsley.
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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Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Turkey + meattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together540 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,592 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Turkey + celerytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together431 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hen turkey
- Forms the main body of the dish, and its meat cooks to become the served roast.
- Sausage meat
- Fills the cavity, adding moisture and rich flavour to the surrounding meat as it cooks.
- Butter
- Basting with butter adds moisture to the surface and helps the skin brown and turn golden.
- Flour (in the method)
- A flour coating helps the outside of the bird brown and form a crisp, golden crust.
The step that matters
Place the turkey far from the fire until heated through. Gentle, distant heat lets the thick bird and its stuffing cook through evenly, so the outside does not darken or burn before the centre is done.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, meat, butter, parsley):
- Thymefits better
- Sagefits better
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, meat, butter, parsley. 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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