Name: Beetroot , Boiled
Ingredients: beetroot; boiling water; oil; vinegar; cream sauce

Why it works: Cream and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,787 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Beetroot , Boiled

Ingredients

Directions

Wash the beetroot.
Place the beetroot in boiling water.
Boil until tender, about 1.5 to 2.5 hours depending on size.
Let the beetroot cool.
Slice the beetroot into pieces about the thickness of a penny.

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.

Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,787 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Beetroot + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,630 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Beetroot + saucetop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together374 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Beetroot + creamtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together407 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Vinegar + creamtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,064 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).