Why it works: Broccoli and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,451 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓
Boiled Broccoli
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the outside leaves from the broccoli and cut the inside leaves level with the flower.
Trim the stalk close to the bottom and soak the broccoli in cold salted water, heads downward, for 30 minutes.
Boil and serve
Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and add a heaping tablespoon of salt.
Boil the broccoli quickly in the salted water until done, then remove immediately.
Drain the broccoli, pour melted butter over it, 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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Broccoli + buttertop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,451 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Broccoli
- Forms the dish, cooking to a tender texture with a fresh, green flavor.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor over the cooked broccoli.
The step that matters
Boil quickly and remove immediately once done. Overcooking softens the cell walls until the florets turn mushy, and it breaks down the chlorophyll, leaving the broccoli dull olive green.
“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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