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Mashed Parsnip & Sprout Colcannon

This is a delicious accompaniment to Christmas dinner, but is also a great way to use up those leftover cooked sprouts

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsnip and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,053 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 8
Prep15 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Cut the peeled parsnips into even chunks. Place them in a large pan of boiling water and simmer until completely tender, about 12 to 15 minutes.

  2. Drain the parsnips well, then return them to the dry pan over low heat for 1 minute to steam off any remaining moisture.

  3. While the parsnips cook, warm the milk in a small saucepan until steaming, but do not let it boil.

  4. Mash the hot parsnips with the butter, then gradually beat in the warm milk until smooth and fluffy.

  5. Roughly chop the cooked Brussels sprouts. Stir them into the mash with the sliced spring onions.

  6. Heat the colcannon gently for 2 minutes, stirring, until everything is hot. Serve immediately.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Parsnip + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,053 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together42,827 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Milk + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together13,411 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  5. Parsnip + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together321 recipes

    Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the brussels sprouts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsnip, butter, milk, onion):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  3. Leekbetter flavor fit
  4. Brussels sproutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsnip, butter, milk, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).