Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
To Boil Turnips
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel and slice the turnips.
Boil them quickly until done.
Remove them immediately to prevent color change.
Place them in a sieve and squeeze out all the water.
Mash and serve
Mash with butter, salt, and a little cream.
Serve hot in a vegetable dish.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Turnip + buttertop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,100 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Turnip + creamtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together797 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Turnips
- Form the main body of the dish, providing the mashed vegetable base and its mild flavour.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and a savoury flavour.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, loosening the mash and softening its texture.
The step that matters
Squeeze out all the water. Turnips hold a lot of water, and excess moisture dilutes the flavour and makes the mash loose and watery. Thorough draining in a sieve keeps the texture thick and concentrated.
Swap the turnip
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream):
- Potatofits better
- Onionfits better
- Leekfits better
- Turnipthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream. 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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