Why it works: Butter and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Boiled Vegetable Marrow
Ingredients
Directions
Boil
Salt 1/2 gallon of water with 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt.
Peel the marrows and place them in the boiling salted water.
Boil the marrows until quite tender.
Remove the marrows with a slotted spoon, halve them, and if very large, quarter them.
Serve
Serve the marrows on toast with a tureen of melted butter or a small pat of salt butter.
To mash the marrows, boil them, drain, mash smoothly with a wooden spoon, heat in a saucepan, add salt, pepper, and a small piece of butter, and serve with toasted bread garnish.
To preserve large marrows, store them in a dry place; when needed, cut a few slices and boil them in the same manner.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Marrow
- Is the main vegetable; boiling softens its flesh until tender enough to serve.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour when melted over the cooked marrow.
The step that matters
Boil the marrows until quite tender. Marrow flesh must cook fully to soften its fibres; stopping early leaves it firm and watery when served or mashed.
“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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