Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓
To Boil a Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the turkey
Clean the turkey by removing feathers and singeing hair with burning paper without blackening the skin.
Wipe the inside with a damp cloth and cut off the legs at the first joints, removing sinews.
Pull down the skin and push the legs inside the turkey.
Stuff the breast with the stuffing, leaving room for it to swell, then sew the skin over the opening.
Place the liver in one wing and the gizzard in the other, securing the wings to the sides with a skewer.
Boil and serve
Wrap the turkey in a cloth and boil gently in hot water until cooked.
A small young turkey takes about 1.5 hours; a larger one may take 2.5 to 3 hours.
Ensure the turkey is always covered with water while boiling.
Once cooked, place the turkey in a hot dish, pour some sauce over the breast, and serve the remainder in a sauce tureen.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Turkey + breadtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together822 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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; long gentle boiling cooks the meat until tender.
- Bread crumbs
- Bulk for the stuffing, absorbing fat and moisture so the filling holds together.
- Butter or chopped suet
- Adds fat to the stuffing, keeping it moist and rich as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Bind the stuffing together so it holds its shape while cooking.
- Parsley sauce
- Adds a moist, creamy sauce that is poured over the breast to finish the dish.
The step that matters
Keep the turkey fully covered while boiling. If the bird is exposed to air during boiling, the part above the water cooks unevenly and can dry out. Keeping it submerged maintains even, moist heat through the meat.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, sauce, bread, butter, pepper, egg, milk):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Sagefits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, sauce, bread, butter, pepper, egg, milk. 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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