Why it works: Turnip and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,418 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Turkey En Haricot Vierge
Ingredients
Directions
Blanch the turnips in boiling water.
Stew the turnips in consommé with sugar, salt, and butter, covered with a round paper, until nearly dry.
Carefully place the turnips on a sieve to drain.
Stew the celery in the same manner as the turnips in a separate saucepan.
Place the boiled turkey on a serving dish and garnish with the turnips and celery.
Pour béchamel sauce over the turkey and vegetables before serving.
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 + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,418 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Turnip + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together943 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turnip, sugar, butter, sauce):
- Capersfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against turnip, sugar, butter, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
Cream of Celery Soup113 recipes
Turnip Soup43 recipes
Celery Stew25 recipes
Celery Croquettes16 recipesThe 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.