Name: Salsifis a l'Italienne
Ingredients: salsifis; 1 egg yolk; 2 teaspoons French vinegar; ½ tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese; ½ tablespoon grated Gruyere cheese; butter; pepper

Why it works: Parmesan cheese and gruyere cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 152 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Salsifis a l'Italienne

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Partially boil the salsifis.
Put them in a pot, cover, and simmer gently for one hour.

Layer and bake

Mix the egg yolk with the French vinegar.
Pour the mixture over the cooked salsifis.
Layer the salsifis in a heated dish, sprinkling with equal amounts of Parmesan and Gruyere cheese and tiny patches of butter.
Repeat layering until all salsifis are used, ensuring they are moist.
Season with pepper and heat in the oven 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.

Parmesan cheese + gruyere cheesetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together152 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Gruyere cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together323 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,322 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Salsifis: Forms the main body of the dish, providing the vegetable texture that the layers are built from.
Egg yolk: Binds with the vinegar and coats the salsifis, adding richness and moisture to the layers.
Parmesan cheese: Melts and browns on top, adding savoury flavour and a golden crust.
Gruyere cheese: Melts into the layers, adding savoury flavour and helping the top brown.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, helping the cheese and top brown in the oven.

“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.