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Potato Loaf

A loaf of mashed potatoes baked until crisp.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Potato Loaf

Oven, in the book's wordsA rather brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a rather brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Mash cold potatoes and a little dripping until smooth.

  2. Season with black pepper and coarse sea salt.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape into a pyramid on a plate and score the sides with a fork.

  2. Dot with small pieces of dripping.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until the surface is brown and crisp.

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. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Cold potatoes
Provide the starchy bulk that forms the loaf's body and soft interior.
Dripping
Adds fat for moisture and richness, and helps the surface brown and crisp in the oven.

The step that matters

Bake until the surface is brown and crisp. Browning comes from the Maillard reaction and dry, hot heat on the exterior. Pulling the loaf too early leaves the surface pale and soft, while the interior stays moist. Watch the color rather than the clock.

“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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