Name: Puree of Garlic
Ingredients: 12 garlic bulbs; water; coarse sea salt; butter; red pepper; reduced Espagnole sauce

Why it works: Garlic and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,090 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Puree of Garlic

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the garlic

Peel the garlic bulbs and parboil them in plenty of lightly salted water until cooked.
Drain the garlic and place it in a saucepan with a piece of butter.
Set the saucepan on a brisk fire to reduce the moisture.

Make the puree

Season with salt and a pinch of red pepper, then rub through a fine sieve.
Put the puree back in a saucepan and add a few spoonfuls of reduced Espagnole sauce.
Before serving, add another piece of butter.

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.

Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together15,338 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Garlic + saucetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,007 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Garlic + buttertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,572 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Garlic: Provides the main flavour and, once softened and puréed, the body of the dish.
Butter: Adds richness and a smooth, glossy texture to the puree.
Reduced espagnole sauce: Adds depth and savoury body to the puree.

The step that matters

Reducing the moisture over a brisk fire. Garlic that is still wet after parboiling will thin the puree and dilute its flavour. Driving off water over strong heat concentrates the garlic and gives a thicker purée that holds its shape and blends smoothly with the butter and sauce.