Why it works: Kale and butter work together. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 247 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Kale', Sea, Boiled
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the kale in cold water for 30 minutes.
Wash and trim the kale, then tie it in small bunches.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt.
Add the kale bunches to the boiling water and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.
Remove the kale, drain the water, and serve with melted butter or white sauce.
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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Kale + buttertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together247 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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