Why it works: Turnip and cauliflower match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 286 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Macedoine De Legumes En Gelee
Ingredients
Directions
Cut root vegetables into tiny balls.
Mix equal quantities of string beans, peas, potatoes, beets, carrots, turnips, cauliflower, and radishes.
Rinse a border mold in cold water and fill it with the vegetable mixture.
Gradually pour melted meat jelly over the vegetables until filled.
Set the mold on ice until firm.
Serve with Tartare Sauce made from the egg in the center.
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.
-
Turnip + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together286 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Cauliflower + radishtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together55 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
-
Turnip + radishtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together35 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Beans + cauliflowertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together290 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, potato, carrot, turnip, cauliflower, radish, meat):
- Lentilsfits better
- Chickpeafits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, potato, carrot, turnip, cauliflower, radish, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
The 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.
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Green Peas229 recipes
Carrot Soup134 recipes
Potato Rolls78 recipes