Name: Parsnip Stew
Ingredients: parsnips; salt pork; salt; pepper; thyme; water; dumplings

Why it works: Parsnip and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 270 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Parsnip Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Thoroughly clean the parsnips, cut them lengthwise, and quarter them.
In a flat-bottomed kettle, fry the salt pork until browned, then remove it from the kettle.
Lay half of the parsnips evenly on the bottom of the kettle.
Add the pork scraps on top of the parsnips, then layer the remaining parsnips on top.
Season with salt, pepper, and a sprig of thyme, then add enough water to cover the ingredients.
When nearly done, add dumplings the size of a tea biscuit, cover closely, and cook for 15 minutes without removing the cover.

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.

Parsnip + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together270 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsnip + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,109 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + thymetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,121 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).