Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Creamed Salsify
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash and scrape the salsify, then cut it into slices ½ inch thick.
Boil the slices in a saucepan until tender.
Make the creamed salsify
Turn off most of the cooking liquid, then add milk or cream and salt to taste.
Boil for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.
Thicken the liquid with rice flour or another thickening agent and serve hot.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salsify
- Is the vegetable being cooked, providing the main body and tender texture of the dish.
- Milk or cream
- Supplies moisture and richness, forming the creamy liquid the salsify is served in.
- Rice flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid so it clings to the salsify rather than running thin.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor when milk is used.
The step that matters
Thicken the liquid with rice flour or another thickening agent. Starch needs to be fully incorporated and heated to thicken properly, so adding it to liquid that is still simmering helps avoid lumps and a thin, watery sauce.
“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.
You might also like
Rice Fritters84 recipes
Steamed Rice48 recipes
Rice Griddle Cakes28 recipes
Rice and Cheese Casserole23 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.