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Roast Turkey

A whole turkey roasted in an oven after being seasoned, buttered, and dredged with flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour 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

Prepare the turkey

  1. Remove all feathers from the turkey.

  2. Singe the turkey over burning newspaper.

  3. Carefully draw the turkey, avoiding breaking any internal organs.

  4. Remove the crop.

  5. Cut off the head.

  6. Tie the neck close to the body with the skin.

  7. Rinse the inside of the turkey with several waters.

  8. Add baking soda to the second-to-last rinse.

  9. Wipe the turkey dry inside and out with a clean cloth.

  10. Rub the inside with salt.

Stuff and season

  1. Stuff the turkey with dressing.

  2. Sew it up with strong thread.

  3. Tie the legs and wings to the body.

  4. Rub the outside with soft butter.

  5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  6. Dredge with flour.

Roast

  1. Place the turkey in a dripping pan.

  2. Pour in boiling water.

  3. Set it in the oven.

  4. Baste the turkey often.

  5. Turn it occasionally for even cooking.

  6. Check that the turkey is done by piercing with a fork; the liquid should run clear.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Turkey + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,636 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Soft butter
Adds fat that enriches flavor and helps the outside brown as it roasts.
Flour
Dredged on the surface, it helps the skin brown and crisp in the oven.
Boiling water
Poured into the pan, it adds moisture and steam around the bird as it roasts.

The step that matters

Checking that the turkey is done. Juices running clear is a visual cue, but the thickest parts, especially near the thigh and breast, must be fully cooked through. Piercing the deepest part with a fork and checking the juices helps confirm the meat is cooked and not undercooked.

“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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