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To Stew Carrots

A dish of sliced carrots stewed in broth, thickened with butter and flour, finished with cream and capers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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To Stew Carrots

Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Stew Carrots

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the carrots

  1. Half boil the carrots, then slice them.

Stew and thicken

  1. Stew the sliced carrots in weak broth with pepper, salt, and mace.

  2. When done, thicken with butter and flour mixed together.

Finish and serve

  1. Add cream and capers, then shake to combine.

  2. Serve in a vegetable dish, ensuring not to boil after adding cream.

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.

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.

  1. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Flour + caperstop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,024 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Carrot + caperstop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together288 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 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

Carrots
Form the main body of the dish and provide sweetness and a tender texture when stewed.
Butter
Combines with flour to form a roux that thickens the broth and adds richness.
Flour
Thickens the stewing liquid with butter, giving the sauce body.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the sauce.
Capers
Add a sharp, acidic bite that balances the sweetness of the carrots and cream.

The step that matters

Do not boil after adding cream. Once cream is added, boiling can cause it to separate and turn grainy, and can break the sauce's texture. Keeping it warm and gently combined preserves a smooth, cohesive sauce.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, pepper, butter, flour, cream, capers):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, pepper, butter, flour, cream, capers. 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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