Turnips and Radishes

Turnips and radishes share membership in the mustard family, the group of earthy-spicy greens and roots that includes horseradish, most “winter” greens, like kale, collards, and mustard, and kohlrabi. They’re also two roots the English-speaking part of the world has never handled with any particular aptitude—though they are used to great effect pretty much everywhere else.

In France turnips are picked small and used quickly, most famously with duck, but the French are quick to include them in many of the preparations that make potatoes seem so transcendent—fries, gratins, and the like. The Chinese brown and braise them, playing up their natural sweetness. And they are pickled across Asia, much like their cousins, radishes, because both are excellent canvases for different pickling flavors.