Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Roast Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Stuff the turkey breast with veal forcemeat.
Roast
Tie a buttered paper over the breast and hang the turkey with legs up before a clear fire.
Baste the turkey well to prevent dryness.
Roast until the steam draws to the fire.
Remove the paper half an hour before it's done and rub a little butter on it.
Serve
Serve with Brown Gravy, Bread Sauce, and Baked Sausages.
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Turkey + breadtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together822 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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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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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Turkey + vealtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together393 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 its meat becomes tender and juicy as it roasts.
- Veal forcemeat
- Adds moisture and richness inside the breast as it cooks, flavouring the meat from within.
- Butter
- Adds fat that promotes gentle browning and a glossy, rich finish on the surface.
The step that matters
Basting the turkey well. Regular basting moistens the surface as fat and juices evaporate, helping prevent the lean meat from drying out during a long roast.
“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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