Name: Beet and Beet Greens Gratin
Ingredients: 2 small bunches of beets with greens; 2 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons flour; 1½ cups skim milk; 3 large cloves garlic minced; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; butter flavored cooking spray; ½ cup flavored bread crumbs

Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Beet and Beet Greens Gratin

Oven400°F

Time25 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beets and greens

Separate the greens from the beets, leaving about 1 inch of stems on the top of the beets.
Steam the beets for 45 minutes.
Save the cooking pot with the water.
Cool the beets and peel off the skins.
Trim the stalks from the greens unless they are very tender.
Stack the greens and roll them like a fat cigar.
Cut the greens crosswise into ½ inch wide ribbons.
Wash the ribbons thoroughly and drain them.
Add the greens to the same pot that steamed the beets, adding more water if needed.
Steam the greens over moderate heat until wilted, about 7 minutes.

Make the cream sauce

While the greens are steaming, heat butter in a medium saucepan until it foams.
Add flour to the butter and stir over moderate heat until well blended.
Add milk, stirring constantly, until the sauce comes to a boil.
Reduce the sauce to a simmer, then add garlic, salt, and pepper, stirring as it thickens to the consistency of a light cream sauce.
Turn off the heat.

Bake and serve

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Cut the beets into ½ inch cubes and add them to the saucepan with the cream sauce.
Squeeze out any moisture from the beet greens and add them to the cream sauce, combining well.
Season with more salt and pepper if desired.
Pour the mixture into a 2 quart gratin dish that has been sprayed with butter flavored spray.
Sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Bake for 25 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

751Calories

23 gProtein

21 gFat

118 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Beet	1/2 cup (85g)	35
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,368 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Beets: Provide the main body and sweet, earthy flavor of the gratin.
Beet greens: Add leafy texture and a slightly bitter, mineral flavor that balances the rich sauce.
Butter: Enriches the sauce with fat and rich flavor, and helps form the roux.
Flour: Thickens the milk into a smooth cream sauce when cooked with the butter.
Skim milk: Forms the liquid base of the cream sauce, which sets as it thickens.
Garlic: Adds pungent aroma that mellows as the gratin bakes.

The step that matters

Thicken the sauce gently after adding the milk. Flour must be cooked smoothly into the butter and milk added gradually while stirring; otherwise lumps form and the sauce will not thicken evenly. Simmering gently keeps starch swelling without scorching the milk proteins.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, clove, pepper, bread):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Allspicefits better
Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, clove, pepper, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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Beet and Beet Greens Gratin