Name: Salsify or Oyster Plant
Ingredients: vinegar; lemon juice; salt; pepper

Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Salsify or Oyster Plant

Ingredients

vinegar
lemon juice
salt
pepper

Directions

Scrape and at once throw into cold water, with a little vinegar or lemon juice to keep from discoloring; cook in boiling salted water till tender (about one hour), drain, season with butter, salt and pepper, or cut in half-inch pieces and serve in cream sauce, or dip in fritter batter and fry in hot fat, or when cold brown in butter.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

21Calories

1 gProtein

0 gFat

5 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
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.

By Norton, Caroline Trask. 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. See the original page.

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.

Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Vinegar + lemontop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,334 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).