Why it works: Lemon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Stewed Vegetable Marrow
Ingredients
Directions
Remove the skin from the vegetable marrows.
Place the marrows in a stewpan with water, salt, lemon juice, and butter or bacon.
Stew gently until the marrows are tender.
Serve with a rich Dutch sauce or any piquant sauce of your choice.
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.
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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Vegetable marrows
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming soft and tender as they stew.
- Butter or fat bacon
- Adds richness and moisture, carrying flavour through the gentle stew.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the mild flavour of the marrow.
The step that matters
Stew gently until the marrows are tender. Vigorous boiling breaks down the marrow's soft flesh into a mushy texture. A gentle simmer lets it soften evenly while holding its shape.
“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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