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Dessert

Irish Potato Pudding

A baked dessert made from mashed potatoes, cream, sugar, butter, nutmeg, and eggs, topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Irish Potato Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Bake in a pan.

  2. Spread on meringue and brown.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

453Calories
11 gProtein
23 gFat
52 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo. 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. See the original page.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 recipes

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

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Mashed potatoes give the pudding its body and a soft, moist crumb.
Cream
Cream adds moisture and richness, keeping the pudding tender.
Butter
Butter adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
Eggs
Eggs bind the mixture and help it set as it bakes.
Sugar
Sugar sweetens the pudding and helps the topping brown.

The step that matters

Spread on meringue and brown.. Sugar in the meringue browns through caramelisation under heat. Browning it too long can dry or toughen the topping, so watch it closely while it colours.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, butter, nutmeg, egg):

  1. Leekfits about as well
  2. Sweet potatofits about as well
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, butter, nutmeg, egg. 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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