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Kohlrabi with Leaves

A boiled kohlrabi with vinegar, butter, and seasoned leaves served on a platter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Kohlrabi and pepper work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Kohlrabi with Leaves

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kohlrabi

  1. Remove the outer leaves from the kohlrabi.

  2. Wash the kohlrabi thoroughly.

  3. Soak the kohlrabi in cold water.

  4. Drain the kohlrabi.

  5. Boil the kohlrabi in salted water for 10 minutes.

  6. Drain the kohlrabi.

  7. Pour fresh boiling water with vinegar over the kohlrabi.

  8. Boil the kohlrabi for another 10 minutes.

  9. Drain the kohlrabi.

  10. Scrape the kohlrabi.

Cook the leaves

  1. Drain the cooked leaves.

  2. Chop the leaves finely.

  3. Return the leaves to the fire with butter, pepper, and salt.

  4. Cook the leaves until heated through.

Serve

  1. Slice the kohlrabi.

  2. Dip each slice in melted butter.

  3. Arrange the slices around the edge of a hot platter.

  4. Heap the leaves in the center of the platter.

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.

  1. Kohlrabi + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Kohlrabi + vinegartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Kohlrabi
Forms the main body of the dish, and its mild flavor is the centerpiece once boiled and sliced.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the kohlrabi slices and the cooked leaves.
Vinegar
Adds a slight acidity that brightens the flavor of the boiled kohlrabi.

The step that matters

Boiling the kohlrabi a second time in fresh boiling water with vinegar. The first boil is followed by a fresh boil with vinegar, which is done on a timed schedule. Acid added to boiling water helps keep the vegetable's color bright, and a fresh boil replaces water that has already carried off some flavor and compounds, so keeping the water hot and the timing right matters.

Swap the kohlrabi

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, butter, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cabbagefits better
  4. Kohlrabithe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, butter, pepper. 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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