Why it works: Nutmeg and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Mexican Stueeing Eor 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.
Make the bread mixture
Soak the crumbled bread in the milk until sufficiently soaked.
Add the eggs, butter, salt, and nutmeg to the soaked bread and mix well.
Stir in the blanched almonds.
Bake and stuff
Bake the mixture in the oven at 350°F (175°C) until cooked, testing with a straw like you would for a cake.
Stuff the turkey with the baked mixture.
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.
-
Nutmeg + almondtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,115 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread
- Soaked in milk, it forms the body of the stuffing and soaks up moisture.
- Eggs
- Set when baked, binding the stuffing together into a firm, sliceable mass.
- Milk
- Softens the bread and adds moisture so the mixture bakes tender rather than dry.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender crumb.
- Blanched almonds
- Add crunch and nutty flavour against the soft bread and custard.
The step that matters
Testing the bake with a straw. Eggs set as they cook, so underbaking leaves the mixture wet and loose, while overbaking makes it dry and rubbery. A straw inserted in the centre should come out clean, as for a cake.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, egg, butter, nutmeg):
- Almondthe original
- Pecansfits about as well
- Walnutfits about as well
- Chestnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, egg, butter, nutmeg. 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.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Almond Soup60 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipes