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Turnips in White Sauce

Turnips simmered in a butter and pepper sauce, optionally finished with cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Turnips in White Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the turnips

  1. Pare and quarter the turnips, then place them in boiling salted water.

  2. Boil until tender, then drain in a colander.

  3. Press the turnips dry with the back of a large plate.

  4. Rub the turnips through the colander into a clean saucepan.

Finish and serve

  1. Add butter, white pepper or cayenne, and more salt if needed.

  2. Stir over heat until the butter is mixed and the turnips are hot.

  3. If desired, add cream or milk for improved color and flavor before serving.

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.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Turnip + white peppertop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together275 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  3. White pepper + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,439 recipes
  4. Turnip + buttertop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,100 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Turnip + creamtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together797 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Turnips
Form the main body of the dish, becoming soft and smooth when boiled and pressed.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the purée a silky texture and mouthfeel.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and richness, softening the purée and mellowing its flavor.

The step that matters

Pressing the turnips dry. Excess water left in boiled turnips dilutes the purée and makes it loose and watery. Pressing removes moisture so the butter and cream blend into a thick, smooth texture.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turnip, butter, cream):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turnip, butter, cream. 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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