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Stewed Salsify or Oyster-plant

Stewed salsify is a root vegetable cooked with butter, cream, flour, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Stewed Salsify or Oyster-plant

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the roots and scrape off their skins, throwing them into cold water to prevent darkening.

  2. Cut crosswise into thin slices; throw into fresh water, enough to cover; add a little salt and stew in a covered vessel until tender, about one hour.

Finish and serve

  1. Pour off a little of the water, add a small lump of butter, a little pepper, a gill of sweet cream, and a teaspoonful of flour stirred to a paste, then boil up and serve hot.

  2. Alternatively, salsify may be simply boiled and melted butter turned over them.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

512Calories
14 gProtein
7 gFat
97 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 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 F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  3. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Salsify roots (in the method)
Provide the main body of the dish, becoming tender through long stewing.
Sweet cream
Adds richness and a smooth, body-giving texture to the stewing liquid.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a light sauce when boiled with the cream.

The step that matters

Preventing darkening of the roots. Salsify discolours quickly once peeled when exposed to air. Placing the scraped roots in cold water slows this browning and keeps the pale flesh looking clean before cooking.

“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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