Skip to main content
Side

Baked Potatoes

Three old recipes for potato dishes: Golden Rod potatoes with chopped egg, mashed potatoes baked light with eggs, and potatoes in white sauce topped with cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By [Hayes, Emma (Allen), Mrs.], 1868- [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Baked Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the creamed potatoes

  1. Separate egg whites from yolks, cut the whites into dice and add to the potato.

  2. Fry onions in butter until softened.

  3. Add flour and seasonings, then gradually add the milk, stirring well.

  4. Let boil, add potatoes, and when very hot turn into a serving dish.

  5. Put egg yolks through a potato ricer over the dish.

  6. Serve at once.

Bake the mashed potatoes

  1. Add milk, salt, butter, flour and eggs beaten to a froth to the cold mashed potatoes.

  2. Mix the whole until thoroughly light.

  3. Put into a pudding or vegetable dish, spread a little butter over the top and bake until golden brown.

  4. Beat the eggs very thoroughly before adding them so the potato stays light and porous after baking.

Make the white sauce and gratin

  1. Make a sauce of 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon flour rubbed together until smooth, then add a little salt and 1 cupful of boiling milk.

  2. Slice cold boiled potatoes into the casserole dish, season and cover with the white sauce.

  3. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and grated cheese, then brown in the oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

989Calories
33 gProtein
26 gFat
155 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By [Hayes, Emma (Allen), Mrs.], 1868- [from old catalog]. 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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the dish and give it a soft, creamy body.
Eggs
Beaten whites trap air, keeping the potato light and airy after baking.
Milk
Adds moisture and, once thickened, forms the creamy sauce.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour and helps the top turn golden.
Onions
Adds savoury flavour when softened in butter.

The step that matters

Beating the eggs thoroughly. Beating eggs well incorporates air into them. That trapped air expands in the oven, so the potato bakes up light and porous. Poorly beaten eggs leave the mixture dense.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, flour, milk, butter, egg):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, flour, milk, butter, 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.

More baked potatoes recipes

Stuffed 14Creamed 4Anchovy 3Cheesy 3French 3 See all 55 →

You might also like

Onion PuddingOnion Pudding9 recipesEggplant CakesEggplant Cakes34 recipesEscalloped Tomatoes (Scalloped Tomatoes)Escalloped Tomatoes (Scalloped Tomatoes)25 recipesParsnip CroquettesParsnip Croquettes12 recipes