Name: Purée of Turnips
Ingredients: 12 large turnips; ¼ pound butter; 2 cups strong broth; flour (to dredge); cream or white sauce (if necessary)

Why it works: Turnip and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,874 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Purée of Turnips

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut the turnips into slices.
Place the turnips and butter in a stewpan, with the turnips on top.

Cook

Heat over a brisk fire, stirring with a wooden spoon.
When the turnips become white, add the broth.
Dredge the mixture in flour.
Stew until the mixture reaches the proper consistency.
Add cream or white sauce if needed.

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.

Turnip + flourtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,874 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Turnip + buttertop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,100 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

What each ingredient does

Turnips: Form the purée's main body and bulk once softened by stewing.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, helping the turnips soften and carry flavour.
Strong broth: Supplies liquid and savoury flavour as the turnips cook down.
Flour: Dredged into the mixture to thicken it as it stews.

The step that matters

Stew until the mixture reaches the proper consistency. Flour and liquid thicken as they simmer together, and stopping too early leaves the purée thin while cooking too long can scorch the butter and starches on the pan base. Stirring keeps the mixture from sticking.