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Leeks with Three Mustard and Cheese Sauce

Try making this creamy, moreish side dish with blue cheese or substituting your favourite seasonal vegetable.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Leek and mustard share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Leeks with Three Mustard and Cheese Sauce

Serves 8
Prep30 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

982Calories
40 gProtein
38 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Cheddar Cheese1 oz (28g)113
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Leek + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together21 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Leek + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together328 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (leek, pepper, butter, flour, milk):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against leek, pepper, butter, flour, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.