Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Salsify, Stewed
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the salsify
Boil the salsify in salted water for at least 1 hour until soft, then drain it.
Make the sauce and stew
Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat.
Gradually sprinkle in flour while stirring well.
Add stock or gravy gradually, stirring continuously.
Add the drained salsify and let it stew gently uncovered.
Serve
Serve the salsify piled on a hot dish, pouring the sauce over it.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and giving the sauce a smooth body.
- Flour
- Its starch thickens the butter and stock into a sauce that coats the salsify.
- Stock or gravy
- Forms the liquid of the sauce and adds savoury flavour.
The step that matters
Adding the stock or gravy gradually while stirring. Flour starch must be evenly dispersed in the melted butter before liquid is added. Adding the stock slowly and stirring constantly lets each starch granule hydrate separately, which prevents lumps and gives a smooth, evenly thickened sauce.
“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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