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Roast Turkey

Roast Turkey prepared with a stuffing of bread crumbs, herbs, and salt pork, baked at 400°F then reduced to 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and summer savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 237 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Roast Turkey

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the turkey

  1. Singe the turkey over blazing paper or alcohol.

  2. Cut off the feet, tips of the wings, and neck.

  3. Remove all pin feathers with a knife.

  4. Turn the neck skin back and draw out the crop and windpipe.

  5. Cut a slit in the lower part and remove the intestines carefully.

  6. Cut the oil bag from the tail, wash thoroughly, and drain.

  7. Split the gizzard, remove the inside and inner lining, and boil in 2 quarts of cold water for gravy.

Make the stuffing

  1. Soak the bread and cracker crumbs in cold milk or water until soft.

  2. Mix soaked crumbs with parsley, pepper, salt, egg, sage, and summer savory.

  3. Fill the turkey breast first, then the body, and sew openings securely.

  4. Tie the legs, skewer the wings to the body, and fasten the neck under the body.

Roast and serve

  1. Rub the turkey with salt and lay thin slices of salt pork on top.

  2. Place on a rack in a dripping pan with water at the bottom.

  3. Bake in a hot oven (400°F) and baste often with drippings.

  4. After the first half hour, reduce the oven heat to moderate (350°F) and bake for 2 hours and 15 minutes more.

  5. Fifteen minutes before serving, remove salt pork, moisten with butter, and lightly dredge with flour.

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. Sage + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together237 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together241 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Parsley + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,445 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Forms the main roasted meat; its fat and juices baste the bird and make the gravy.
Bread crumbs
Soaked and mixed into the stuffing, they absorb moisture and give the filling a soft body.
Egg
Binds the soaked crumbs together so the stuffing holds its shape when filled.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, moistening the skin and promoting browning at the end.
Salt pork
Lays fat over the breast as it roasts, keeping the meat moist and flavourful.

The step that matters

Reducing the oven heat after the first half hour. A hot start browns and crisps the skin, but prolonged high heat dries out the lean meat. Lowering to a moderate temperature lets the bird cook through gently while staying juicy.

Swap the summer savory

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Summer savorythe original
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, parsley, bread, pepper, egg, sage, butter. 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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