Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Dressing for Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stuffing
Finely chop the bread crumbs with the salt pork and butter.
Add salt, pepper, sauce, and savory to taste.
Break in 2 or 3 eggs to achieve the right consistency.
Stuff the turkey
Fill both the breast and body of the turkey, then sew it up.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + porktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,371 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,933 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Bread crumbs
- Provides the bulk and body of the stuffing, absorbing the fat and moisture around it.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor that spreads through the crumbs as the stuffing cooks.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, helping the stuffing stay moist and tender.
- Eggs
- Bind the crumbs together and set as the stuffing cooks, giving it a firmer texture.
The step that matters
Break in 2 or 3 eggs to achieve the right consistency.. Eggs bind the mixture and set when heated. Too little leaves the stuffing loose and crumbly, while too much makes it dense and rubbery. Add them gradually and judge the texture by feel.
“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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