Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Russian Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Select at least three colors of vegetables: beet, carrot, and turnip.
Cut the carrot and turnip into slices over 1 inch thick.
Use an apple corer or a small cylinder to cut pieces from the slices.
Boil each vegetable separately in salted water until just tender.
Drain the vegetables and place them in cold water.
Boil the beets whole, then cut them up when ready to serve.
Arrange the vegetables in little groups on a small salad platter.
Pour plain French salad dressing over the arranged vegetables.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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