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Turnip Puree

A smooth puree made from stewed turnips, butter, sugar, salt, velouté or béchamel, cream, and warmed with butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Turnip Puree

Ingredients

Directions

Stew the turnips

  1. Slice the turnips and place them in a saucepan with butter, sugar, and salt.

  2. Stew gently for a few minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.

Make the puree

  1. When nearly melted, add Veloute or Bechamel and stir over heat until it reaches a soft paste consistency.

  2. Gradually mix in the cream and stir well.

  3. Pass the mixture through a sieve and warm with additional butter.

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.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds richness and carries flavour while the turnips soften gently in the pan.
Veloute or bechamel
Thickens the puree to a soft paste and gives it a smooth, body-rich texture.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished puree.
Sugar
Adds a little sweetness that rounds out the flavour of the turnips.

The step that matters

Adding the Veloute or Bechamel over heat. Once the thickener goes in, the mixture can scorch on the base of the pan or form lumps if it is not stirred constantly. Stirring over gentle heat keeps the starch evenly dispersed and gives a smooth paste before the cream is added.

“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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