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Bamboo Shoots

Scalded bamboo shoots served with pepper and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Bamboo shoots and pepper work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 64 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Bamboo Shoots

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Wash the bamboo shoots.

  2. Scald them in boiling water for a few minutes, then drain the bamboo shoots.

  3. Serve with pepper and vinegar.

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. Bamboo shoots + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together64 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Bamboo shoots + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together37 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Bamboo shoots
Provide the main body and crisp-tender texture of the dish.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the mild flavour of the shoots.

The step that matters

Scalding the bamboo shoots. Bamboo shoots contain bitter compounds that are water-soluble and partly heat-sensitive. Scalding in boiling water for a few minutes helps leach out bitterness and softens the shoots, so they should be drained promptly rather than left to overcook.

“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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