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 ↓
Salsify Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scrape and wash the salsify roots.
Rub them with lemon juice and place in cold water until needed.
Cook and serve
Boil the roots in slightly salted water until tender.
Drain and cut the roots into small pieces.
Stir the pieces into the melted butter and simmer for a few minutes.
Serve warm.
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
- Salsify
- Provides the main body and mild, earthy flavour of the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying the flavour and giving the sauce a smooth mouthfeel.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps keep the cut salsify pale.
The step that matters
Rubbing the salsify with lemon juice and keeping it in cold water. Cut salsify oxidises and browns quickly when exposed to air. Acid from the lemon slows this browning, and cold water keeps the roots pale until they are cooked.
“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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