Why it works: Butter and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 7,962 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Potatoes Au Gratin
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Put the creamed potatoes in a buttered baking dish.
Cover with buttered crumbs.
Bake and serve
Bake until the crumbs are brown.
Season to taste.
For a variation, add one-third grated cheese, arranging cheese and potatoes in alternate layers before covering with crumbs.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + cheesetop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together959 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Creamed potatoes
- Form the body of the dish and hold the layers together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the crumbs turn golden and crisp.
- Mild cheese
- Melts into the potatoes, adding savory flavor and a creamy texture.
- Buttered crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden top as they brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Bake until the crumbs are brown. Browning the buttered crumbs gives the top its color, crispness and toasted flavor. Stopping too early leaves the top pale and soft, while baking too long dries out the potatoes beneath.
“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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