Name: Excellent Turnip, or Artichoke Sauce for Boiled Meat
Ingredients: 1/2 teaspoonful; a slice of butter in a clean saucepan; a large teaspoonful of flour; a pint of thin cream; 1 large teaspoonful; 1 pint; salt

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Excellent Turnip, or Artichoke Sauce for Boiled Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the turnips

Pare, slice, and boil turnips until quite tender; press out the water and pass through a sieve.

Make the sauce

Dissolve a slice of butter in a clean saucepan, stir in a large teaspoonful of flour, and shake the saucepan until it boils.
Gradually pour in nearly a pint of thin cream (or good milk mixed with a portion of cream).
Add the turnips with a half-teaspoonful or more of salt, and stir until well mixed.
(Optional) Boil a little cayenne tied in muslin in the milk before mixing with the turnips.

Serve

When the sauce is very hot, pour it over boiled mutton, veal, lamb, or poultry.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

608Calories

14 gProtein

18 gFat

95 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
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 Eliza Acton. 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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Turnips (in the method): Form the body of the sauce, giving it bulk and a mild, sweet flavour.
Butter: Enriches the sauce and carries flavour as the base of the roux.
Flour: Thickens the sauce, giving it a smooth, body-filled texture.
Thin cream: Adds richness and a silky texture, softening the sauce.

The step that matters

Pouring in the cream gradually. Adding the liquid slowly to the hot butter and flour mixture lets the starch disperse evenly, preventing lumps and giving a smooth thickened sauce.

“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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Excellent Turnip, or Artichoke Sauce for Boiled Meat