Name: Parsnips, with Butter Sauce
Ingredients: Parsnips; Cold acidulated water; Vinegar; Coarse sea salt; Butter; Salt; Pepper

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 ↓

Parsnips, with Butter Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Scrape the parsnips well and cut them into 2-inch pieces, slicing them not too thin.
Place the parsnips in a pan with cold acidulated water.
In a saucepan, bring boiling water to a simmer, adding a little vinegar and coarse sea salt.
Add the parsnips and a piece of butter, cooking until tender.
Drain the parsnips and return them to the saucepan.
Add butter sauce, season with salt and pepper, and toss well before serving.

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.

Parsnip + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,109 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,513 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Parsnip + vinegartop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together212 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).