Why it works: Butter and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Winter Squash
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
If using Hubbard squash, cook it whole; otherwise, peel other squash.
Remove seeds and soft fibers from inside the squash.
Cut the squash into pieces and place in a colander or steamer over boiling water.
Cook and serve
Steam until tender, then press through a hot colander.
Add plenty of butter, coarse sea salt, and a little pepper; mix well.
Smooth the top and serve.
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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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Squash
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming soft and smooth when steamed and pressed.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the mashed squash a smooth, silky texture and flavour.
The step that matters
Steam until tender, then press through a hot colander. Squash must be fully tender for the flesh to pass smoothly through the colander. Pressing it while hot keeps the texture silky, because cooled squash becomes stiff and lumpy.
“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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