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To Boil a Turkey

A whole turkey boiled in water and served with white sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,078 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

To Boil a Turkey

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Sprinkle a cloth with flour.

  2. Tie the turkey in the cloth.

  3. Place the turkey in a pot.

  4. Cover the pot with cold water.

Cook

  1. Bring to a boil slowly for 30 minutes.

  2. Skim off any scum.

  3. Reduce heat and let it simmer for 2 to 2.5 hours, depending on size.

Serve

  1. Serve with a white sauce.

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. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Turkey + saucetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together531 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Turkey + flourtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together963 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Is the main protein that becomes tender and moist during long, gentle simmering.
Flour
Coats the cloth so the turkey is wrapped loosely and the cloth releases cleanly.
White sauce
Adds creamy richness and moisture that complements the mild, boiled meat.

The step that matters

Bring to a boil slowly. Heating gently helps keep the meat tender and reduces the scum that rises as proteins coagulate. Rapid boiling can toughen the meat and cloud the liquid.

“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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