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Farce Fiir Putem — Forcemeat for Turkeys

A forcemeat mixture of veal, pork, butter, eggs, bread, morels, and seasonings for stuffing turkeys.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Farce Fiir Putem — Forcemeat for Turkeys

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the forcemeat

  1. In a bowl, combine the minced veal and pork.

  2. Add the warmed butter and mix well.

  3. Incorporate the soaked and pressed bread, beaten eggs, morels, salt, pepper, parsley, nutmeg, and lemon peel if desired. Mix until smooth and well combined.

Add the sweetbread and stuff

  1. Parboil a veal sweetbread.

  2. Cut the sweetbread into 1-inch pieces.

  3. Fold the pieces into the mixture.

  4. Stuff the mixture into the turkey's crop and body, but do not overfill.

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

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

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  5. Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides a fine, tender body that holds the forcemeat together.
Pork
Adds fat and richness, keeping the stuffing moist as it cooks.
Butter
Adds fat that keeps the mixture rich and tender.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so it sets into a sliceable stuffing.
Bread
Soaked and pressed, it adds moisture and a light texture.
Morels
Contribute earthy, savoury aroma and flavour.

The step that matters

Stuffing the mixture into the turkey without overfilling. Stuffing expands as eggs and starch set and as it heats, so packing it tightly can prevent it from cooking through evenly and can split the skin. Leaving room lets heat reach the centre and lets the stuffing expand safely.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pork, butter, egg, bread, pepper, parsley):

  1. Sagefits about as well
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, butter, egg, bread, pepper, 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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