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Turnip Puree

A puree of sliced turnips, onion, and celery simmered in corned beef liquor, finished with butter, flour, milk, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Turnip Puree

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liquor

  1. Dip out a quart of the corned beef liquor.

  2. Cool the liquor, then skim it.

  3. Strain the liquor through a thick cloth.

Make the puree

  1. Set the liquor over the fire with the turnips, onion, and celery.

  2. Boil until soft.

  3. Rub the mixture through a colander back into the liquor.

  4. Season with pepper and parsley.

  5. Return to the fire.

  6. Heat the milk with a pinch of baking soda.

  7. Stir in the milk.

  8. Pour into a tureen.

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. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Turnips
Form the bulk of the puree, breaking down when boiled soft to give body and a mild sweetness.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich, smooth mouthfeel and a savoury flavour.
Flour
Thickens the puree, giving it body and a smoother, less watery texture.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, softening the puree's texture and mellowing its flavour.
Baking soda
Raises the pH of the milk, which can soften the vegetables and lightly alter their color and texture.

The step that matters

Rub the mixture through a colander. Pressing the soft turnips through the colander breaks down fibres for a smooth puree. Stirring in the milk last, off the boil, keeps it from curdling or thinning.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, turnip, celery, pepper, parsley, butter, flour):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, turnip, celery, pepper, parsley, butter, flour. 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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