Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Roast Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
If using, stuff the turkey with sausage, veal force-meat, or chestnuts instead of the crotch.
Roast
Roast the turkey, basting frequently to keep it moist.
Cook a small turkey for about 1.5 hours or a 14 lb turkey for about 2.5 hours.
Half an hour before it's done, sprinkle the turkey with flour, pepper, and coarse sea salt.
Place a little cold butter over the breast to help it brown nicely.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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 + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,636 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Turkey + vealtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together393 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
What each ingredient does
- Turkey
- Forms the main body of the dish; its lean meat stays moist only with frequent basting.
- Flour
- Dusted on the skin, it helps the surface brown and crisp in the oven.
- Cold butter
- Adds fat that melts over the breast, promoting even browning and a richer surface.
The step that matters
Basting frequently. Turkey, especially the lean breast, dries out quickly in dry oven heat. Regular basting with the pan juices adds moisture to the surface and helps keep the meat tender.
“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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