Name: Cones of Carrots and Turnips
Ingredients: 2 white turnips; 2 tablespoons butter; white pepper; coarse sea salt

Why it works: Turnip and white pepper work together. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 275 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓

Cones of Carrots and Turnips

Ingredients

2 white turnips
2 tablespoons butter
white pepper
coarse sea salt

Directions

Boil the turnips in quarters until tender.
Chop the boiled turnips finely in a chopping bowl.
Add butter, season with white pepper and coarse sea salt.
Press the mixture into cone shapes using a wineglass.
Arrange the cones around the beef steak.

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.

Turnip + white peppertop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together275 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Turnip + buttertop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,100 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + white peppertop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,814 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).