Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Potato Pudding
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.
Make the batter
Boil the potatoes until tender, then mash them very fine.
Beat the mashed potatoes with the yolks of the eggs, sugar, and melted butter.
Add the lemon juice and grated rind, then fold in the beaten egg whites.
Season with salt and mix in the milk or cream.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour, or until it rises to a full oval in the pan.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,230 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mealy potatoes
- Provide the bulk and a soft, starchy body that gives the pudding its tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Egg yolks enrich and bind the batter, while whipped whites lighten it and help it rise in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender, moist texture to the pudding.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown lightly as it bakes.
- Milk or cream
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter so it bakes into a smooth, custardy interior.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air in the whites, which is what lifts the pudding as it bakes. Stirring or deflating them makes the result dense and flat.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, lemon, milk):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Leekfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, lemon, milk. 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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