Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Crisp Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut cold raw potatoes into shavings, cubes, or small shapes.
Fry
Fry a few pieces at a time in boiling fat.
Toss them with a knife until they are a uniform light brown.
Drain and season with salt and pepper.
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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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Starch provides the bulk of the dish, and its surface browns and crisps when fried.
- Fat
- Boiling fat transfers heat quickly, cooking the potatoes and crisping their outside.
The step that matters
Fry a few pieces at a time in boiling fat. Frying too many pieces at once drops the fat temperature and lowers heat transfer, so the potatoes steam and turn greasy instead of crisping. Small batches keep the fat hot enough to brown them evenly.
“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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