Why it works: Pork and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Parsnip Stew with Dumplings
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the salt pork into thin strips and scrape and slice the parsnips.
Boil the pork and parsnips gently in the water for 1 hour.
Mix the flour with the cold water to create a thickening, then add it to the pot along with salt, pepper, and the pared and sliced potatoes.
Boil for another 30 minutes, then add the dumplings and cook for 10 minutes.
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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Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + parsniptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together353 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Parsnip + flourtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together669 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Parsnip + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,109 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
Swap the parsnip
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, potato, flour, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Chivefits better
- Parsnipthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, potato, flour, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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