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Fricasseed Paksnips

Parsnip fritters made by boiling, slicing, stewing with cream and broth, then frying with salt pork.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsnip and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,109 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fricasseed Paksnips

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the parsnips in water until tender.

  2. Cut the parsnips into pieces 2 to 3 inches long, then slice the pieces.

Stew and slice

  1. Stew the sliced parsnips in ½ cup cream or milk, ½ cup broth, floured batter, pepper, and salt.

  2. When cool, slice the parsnips lengthwise.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the parsnips with thin slices of boiled salt pork in hot fat.

  2. Brown the parsnips on both sides.

  3. Crisp the pork.

  4. Serve together.

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. Parsnip + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,109 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cream + porktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Pepper + porktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Parsnip + porktop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together306 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

Parsnips
Form the main body of the fritters, becoming soft inside and sweet when cooked.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and richness to the stewed parsnips.
Broth
Adds savoury liquid that softens the parsnips during stewing.
Floured batter
Thickens the stewing liquid and helps the fritters hold together.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savoury flavour as it crisps alongside the parsnips.

The step that matters

Browning the parsnips on both sides. The parsnips must be cooled and sliced firmly before frying. Hot fat then browns the surface through Maillard browning, while a moist or crowded pan would steam them instead of crisping.

Swap the parsnip

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, pepper, pork. 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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