Why it works: Dandelion and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 57 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Dandelion Greens
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Select and wash young, tender dandelions.
Cook the greens
Boil dandelions in enough water to cover for 1.5 hours.
Fry and serve
Fry several slices of bacon in a pan.
Chop the egg finely and add it to the bacon.
Drain the dandelions, season with coarse sea salt, and fry with the bacon and egg.
Serve with vinegar.
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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Dandelion + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together57 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Dandelion + eggtop 32% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together51 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
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Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,922 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 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
- Dandelions
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender when boiled.
- Bacon
- Adds fat and savory flavor as it renders into the pan.
- Egg
- Adds richness and body when fried with the bacon and greens.
The step that matters
Boiling the dandelions for 1.5 hours. Long boiling softens the tough, bitter leaves. Draining well before frying matters, because excess water would stop the greens from browning and frying properly in the bacon fat.
“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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