Why it works: Lemon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Boiled Salsify
Ingredients
Directions
Wash the salsify roots and gently brush them.
Scrape away the outer skin and cut into three-inch lengths.
Soak in cold water if not cooking immediately.
Boil plenty of water with salt and lemon juice.
Add salsify and boil until tender, about 30 minutes for small roots and 1 hour for thick ones.
Drain and serve in a tureen with melted butter or Sauce Blanche.
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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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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