Why it works: Pepper and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Fried Salsify
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil the salsify until tender, then cool and grate it.
Season the grated salsify with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Add the beaten egg and mix well.
Form the mixture into small cakes the size of an oyster.
Fry
Fry the cakes in deep oil using a wire basket until golden brown.
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.
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Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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
What each ingredient does
- Salsify
- Forms the main body of the cakes, giving a mild, earthy flavour.
- Beaten egg
- Binds the grated salsify so the cakes hold their shape while frying.
The step that matters
Forming and frying the cakes. The mixture must be cooled and well bound before frying, or the cakes can fall apart. Frying in hot oil browns the outside quickly, forming a crust that helps hold the cake together.
“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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