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Salsify Fried in Batter

Salsify fried in batter after marinating in oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Salsify Fried in Batter

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cook the salsify until tender, then drain and cut into 3‑inch pieces.

  2. In a bowl, combine oil, vinegar, mignonette pepper, and salt.

  3. Add the salsify to the mixture and let it steep for 10 minutes.

  4. Drain the salsify on a napkin, then dip in light batter.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in hot lard until golden brown, then drain on a cloth.

  2. Serve on a napkin with fried parsley.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,477 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Salsify
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked until tender before being dressed and fried.
Light batter
Forms a crisp coating that browns and seals the salsify during frying.
Oil
Carries the vinegar and seasoning into the salsify during steeping.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the mild, earthy flavour of the salsify.

The step that matters

Frying in hot lard. If the lard is not hot enough, the batter absorbs fat and turns greasy instead of crisp and golden. Hot oil sets the coating quickly, so the salsify stays moist inside.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Peppermintfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper. 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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