Name: To Stew Parsnips
Ingredients: 4 parsnips; 2 slices of pork; Salt to taste; Pepper to taste

Why it works: Parsnip and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,109 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Stew Parsnips

Ingredients

4 parsnips
2 slices of pork
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Directions

Peel and slice the parsnips.
In a covered pot, boil the parsnips with the pork slices until tender.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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.

Parsnip + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,109 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,121 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Parsnip + porktop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together306 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Parsnips: Provide the main vegetable body and sweet, starchy texture once softened by simmering.
Pork: Adds savoury flavour to the cooking liquid and the vegetables as it simmers.