Why it works: Turnip and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,330 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Turnip Tops
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the turnip tops in salt water for a while.
Cook
Boil them in water with a little salt and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar.
Cook with the lid off until tender.
Strain and press out excess water.
Serve
Cut into squares and serve in a vegetable dish.
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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Turnip + sugartop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,330 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Green tops of turnips
- Forms the body of the dish; long simmering softens their fibres to a tender texture.
- Brown sugar
- Adds mild sweetness that softens the greens' natural bitterness.
The step that matters
Strain and press out excess water. Water left in the cooked greens dilutes their flavour and makes them soggy, so thorough pressing keeps the texture tender rather than watery.
“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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