Why it works: Mushroom and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Potato Paste
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Bake the potatoes
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Place the washed potatoes in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes.
Check if a potato is soft by pressing it in a cloth.
Once done, cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the insides into a wire sieve.
Press the potato insides through the sieve onto a plate.
Make the sauce
In a stewpan, combine the sherry and second stock, and simmer until the mixture is warm.
Add the canned mushrooms and sliced truffles to the stewpan, and heat through.
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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Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,900 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,176 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
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Potato + mushroomtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together968 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Potato + truffletop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together103 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Sherry + truffletop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together297 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Provide the starchy bulk that, once baked and pressed, forms the smooth paste.
- Sherry
- Adds acidity and a sweet, nutty aroma to the sauce.
- Second stock
- Supplies liquid and savoury depth to the sauce.
- Canned mushrooms
- Add earthy flavour and a soft, tender texture to the sauce.
- Truffles
- Contribute a concentrated, aromatic earthy flavour.
The step that matters
Pressing the potato through the sieve. Baked potato must be pressed while hot and fully soft, because cooled or undercooked potato turns lumpy and gluey rather than smooth, since starch sets as it cools and firm cells resist breaking down.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, mushroom, truffle):
- Asparagusfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Tomatofits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, mushroom, truffle. 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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