Name: Jerusalem Artichokes, a LA Reine
Ingredients: Jerusalem artichokes; ½ cup milk; ½ cup water; 1½ ounces butter; 2 teaspoons flour; ¼ teaspoon mace; coarse sea salt (to taste)

Why it works: Jerusalem artichoke and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 116 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Jerusalem Artichokes, a LA Reine

Ingredients

Directions

Wash and wipe the artichokes. Cut one end of each flat and trim the other into a point.
Boil the artichokes in milk and water until tender. Remove them immediately.
Place the artichokes upright in a serving dish.
In a saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute.
Add the cream and season with mace and salt. Stir until thickened.
Pour the sauce over the artichokes and serve immediately.

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.

Jerusalem artichoke + flourtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together116 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Jerusalem artichoke + milktop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together138 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

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

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (jerusalem artichoke, milk, butter, flour):

Capersfits better
Nutmegfits better
Cinnamonfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against jerusalem artichoke, milk, butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.