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
Wipe the turkey and cut off the neck close to the back, leaving enough skin to turn over.
Break the leg bone below the knee, draw out the strings from the thighs, and flatten the breastbone.
Fill the breast with forcemeat and sew the neck to the back using a trussing needle or skewer.
Run a skewer through the pinion and thigh into the body, pressing the legs between the breast and side bones.
Place the liver under one pinion and the gizzard under the other.
Tie a string across the back of the bird, ensuring it is firmly trussed.
Fasten a sheet of buttered paper on the breast and place the turkey at a distance from the fire, basting it well.
About 30 minutes before it's done, remove the paper, dredge with flour, and baste with melted butter.
Serve when nicely browned with brown gravy and bread sauce, garnished with fried sausages or forcemeat balls.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
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