Name: Mashed Potatoes and Parsnips with Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 3 large white onions, thinly sliced; 2 tablespoons brown sugar; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 3 baking potatoes (such as Yukon gold, about 2 pounds), peeled and cubed; 6 parsnips (about 1 lb), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces; 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, heated; 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese; 3 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped

Why it works: Potato and blue cheese share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 50 recipes mention both. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells apple, fatty. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 8

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 large white onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 baking potatoes (such as Yukon gold, about 2 pounds), peeled and cubed
6 parsnips (about 1 lb), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, heated
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
3 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By epicurious. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Potato + blue cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together50 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Parsnip + thymetop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together270 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Onion + potatotop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together9,019 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + chickentop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together2,756 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).
Olive + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together4,641 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, sugar, potato, parsnip, chicken, blue cheese):

Garlicbetter flavor fit
Thymethe original
Celeryabout as good a flavor fit
Rosemaryabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, sugar, potato, parsnip, chicken, blue cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

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