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 ↓
Turnip Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the sauce base
Boil the pared turnips or artichokes until tender.
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
Gradually add the cream or milk, stirring constantly until thickened.
Finish and serve
Add the cooked turnips or artichokes and salt, mixing well.
If desired, boil the cayenne in the milk before mixing.
Serve the sauce hot over boiled mutton, veal, lamb, or poultry.
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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Turnip + flourtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,874 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Turnip + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,252 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 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
- Cooked and mashed into the sauce, they give it body and a mild sweet flavour.
- Butter
- Melted fat that carries flavour and gives the sauce a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
- Flour
- Starch that thickens the cream or milk into a smooth, coating sauce.
- Cream
- Adds richness and fat, giving the sauce a silky texture and fuller flavour.
The step that matters
Adding the cream or milk gradually. Adding liquid slowly while stirring constantly lets the flour starch disperse evenly and thicken smoothly. Adding it all at once can form lumps that are hard to remove.
Swap the turnip
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, cream, pepper):
- Spinachfits better
- Leekfits better
- Potatofits better
- Turnipthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, cream, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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