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Stewed Potatoes, American Style

Stewed potatoes with milk, butter, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stewed Potatoes, American Style

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Peel the boiled potatoes and cut them in halves if medium-sized or quarters if large.

  2. Slice the potatoes into pieces ¼ inch thick.

Stew and finish

  1. In a saucepan, combine the sliced potatoes, hot milk, butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  2. Simmer until the milk is nearly reduced.

  3. Add the butter sauce and cook for an additional 4 minutes.

  4. Off the heat, add a piece of butter and chopped parsley, then toss until the butter is melted.

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

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

  2. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 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

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the dish, absorbing the milk and butter as they cook.
Milk
Provides moisture and creaminess as it reduces around the potatoes.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth finish to the stewed potatoes.
Butter sauce
Adds extra fat and savoury flavour during the final cooking.

The step that matters

Simmering until the milk is nearly reduced. If the milk reduces too far it can scorch on the pan base, while too little reduction leaves the potatoes watery. Watching the liquid level keeps the texture creamy.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, milk, butter, pepper, sauce, parsley):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Dillfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk, butter, pepper, sauce, parsley. 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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