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Wilted Dandelions

A sautéed dandelion green dish with egg, cream, butter, vinegar, and bacon garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Wilted Dandelions

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the greens

  1. Cut the roots from the dandelions.

  2. Wash the leaves thoroughly in cold water.

  3. Drain and shake dry.

  4. Chop a handful of leaves into small pieces. Place them in a saucepan.

Make the dressing

  1. Beat the egg until light. Mix in the cream.

  2. Stir over low heat until thickened.

  3. Add the butter, vinegar, salt, and pepper to the egg mixture.

Wilt and serve

  1. Pour the mixture over the dandelions.

  2. Stir over low heat until wilted and tender.

  3. Serve garnished with crispy bacon rolls.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Dandelion + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together77 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Dandelion + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together57 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Dandelions
Provide the bitter leafy base that wilts into a tender green dish.
Egg
Thickens the cream into a custard-like dressing that coats the leaves.
Cream
Adds richness and softens the sharpness of the vinegar in the dressing.
Butter
Adds fat and a smooth, rich mouthfeel to the dressing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat until thickened. The egg must be heated gently so it thickens into a smooth dressing. High heat can scramble the egg and leave it curdled and grainy instead of silky.

“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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