Name: Boiled Radishes
Ingredients: 1 bunch of radishes; 2 tablespoons melted butter; salt; pepper

Why it works: Radish and pepper work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 382 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Boiled Radishes

Ingredients

1 bunch of radishes
2 tablespoons melted butter
salt
pepper

Directions

Boil the radishes in water for 15 minutes.
Drain the radishes and serve hot with melted butter.
Alternatively, serve cold with vinaigrette.

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.

Radish + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together382 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Radish + buttertop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together180 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Radishes: The vegetable being cooked, giving the dish its main body and mild peppery flavor.
Melted butter: Adds richness and fat, coating the hot radishes for a smooth mouthfeel.