Why it works: Beef and turnip are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,940 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓
Boiled Corned Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Wash the beef in cold water to remove salt.
Skewer the beef into shape and tie the skewered beef with twine.
Cook
Place the beef in a pot and cover it with cold water.
Boil for about 20 minutes per pound, turning the meat three times while cooking.
Drain the beef thoroughly.
Serve
Serve with drawn butter.
Prepare mashed turnips separately to avoid imparting a disagreeable taste to the beef.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Beef + turniptop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,940 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
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Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + turniptop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,100 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corned beef
- Provides the main body of the dish, seasoned and cured from its brining.
- Mashed turnips
- Serves as a side dish, prepared separately so their flavour does not carry into the beef.
- Drawn butter
- Adds richness and fat to the serving, balancing the lean, salty meat.
The step that matters
Boil for about 20 minutes per pound. Gentle boiling in a covered pot cooks the meat through while keeping it tender. Turning it helps it cook evenly, and draining well keeps the beef from tasting watery.
Swap the turnip
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter):
- Potatofits better
- Onionfits better
- Chivefits better
- Turnipthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter. 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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