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Turnips, Mashed

Mashed turnips seasoned with salt, pepper, butter, and cream or milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Turnips, Mashed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the turnips

  1. Wash and peel the turnips, then place them in cold water.

  2. Drain and add them to a saucepan with slightly salted boiling water.

  3. Cover and boil until tender, about 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.

Mash and finish

  1. Drain the turnips and press with a plate to remove moisture.

  2. Mash the turnips and remove any stringy parts.

  3. If needed, pass through a colander or wire sieve.

  4. Mix in pepper, salt, butter, and cream or milk.

  5. Stir over low heat until hot and dry.

  6. Serve immediately.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Turnip + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,252 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Turnip + buttertop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,100 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Turnips
Form the main body of the mash, with their starch and fibre giving the purée its structure.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, glossy mouthfeel to the mashed turnips.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, loosening the mash for a softer texture.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat until hot and dry. Excess water left in the mash dilutes flavour and makes it loose, so pressing out moisture and gently drying over low heat keeps the texture thick and smooth.

Swap the turnip

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Turnipthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, 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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