Turn It Up

A surprising ally on your turnip journey

Turnips and rutabagas are unfairly maligned. Sure, they’re not the sexiest vegetables. But they’re incredibly nutritious, and they keep really well so they’ll still be ready and eager to help out long after your eggplant have turned to mush and your cilantro has become fetid slime. Also, not to bury the lede or anything, they can taste incredible. The key, as with so many things, is knowing how to handle them, and what techniques and supporting flavors bring out their best qualities.

I’ve got a couple go-to methods that glow up these humblest brassicas, and a surprising ingredient that gives just about any preparation a substantial lift in flavor. Step one in understanding how their flavor works is knowing that turnips, bok choy, tatsoi, napa cabbage, mizuna, komatsuna, mustard, and rabe are all cultivars of the same plant, bred by humans over many millennia into these (and other) forms—a lot like what we’ve done to dogs over the same time period. So there’s a mustardy sharpness and cabbagey funk at the core of the flavor. That’s where we’ll begin.