Skip to main content
Main

To Preserve Turkeys and Chickens

A method for preserving turkeys and chickens by searing, covering with fat, and storing in a sealed crock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Turkey and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,592 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

To Preserve Turkeys and Chickens

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the cleaned turkeys or chickens into pieces as for fricassee.

  2. Heat a frying pan and add drippings or butter.

  3. Sear the pieces on all sides in the hot frying pan.

  4. Transfer the seared pieces into an earthenware crock.

Seal and store

  1. Melt lard or clarified drippings and pour it into the crock until the meat is completely covered.

  2. Allow the crock to cool; this seals the meat from air.

  3. Store in a cool place for weeks, but do not freeze.

  4. When ready to use, remove the required amount, scrape off the fat, and prepare as desired.

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. Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkeys or chickens
Forms the meat that is preserved and later cooked.
Lard or clarified drippings
Covers the meat and forms a fat layer that keeps air away from it.

The step that matters

Covering the meat completely with melted fat. Fat must fully cover the meat with no gaps, because exposed meat can spoil and fat acts as a barrier against air and microbes. Allowing it to cool and set makes that seal firm.

“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.

You might also like

Turkey SoupTurkey Soup71 recipesTurkey StuffingTurkey Stuffing26 recipesTurkey DressingTurkey Dressing24 recipesTurkey PattiesTurkey Patties12 recipes