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Potatoes with Butter

Boiled potatoes served with butter, optionally topped with brown butter or other sauces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Potatoes with Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Boil and butter

  1. Scrape and wash new potatoes or peel small old ones.

  2. Boil in salted water for 30 minutes or until done.

  3. Drain the potatoes.

  4. Put them in a sauce-pan with 1 tablespoon butter.

  5. Turn them over lightly for a minute or two.

  6. Serve with the butter poured over them.

  7. Brown butter may be used instead, or Polish crumbs, or cream sauce.

Make potato dumplings

  1. Boil, mash and season with butter, pepper and salt 7 or 8 good sized potatoes.

  2. Dice 2 slices of bread and fry brown in a little butter.

  3. Add the fried bread to the potatoes with 2 well beaten eggs and enough flour to make the mixture into balls the size of a small cup.

  4. Boil these like dumplings in a good beef or veal broth, turning occasionally.

  5. If left over, they are good sliced cold and fried in butter.

Make potato cakes

  1. Take 2 tablespoons each of mashed potatoes and grated cheese, 1 tablespoon breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, cayenne to taste, and half a beaten egg, and mix well.

  2. Form into cakes or balls, with the aid of a little flour.

  3. Dip in beaten egg and roll in toasted bread crumbs.

  4. Fry in deep hot fat, or in a skillet with butter.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

808Calories
24 gProtein
19 gFat
135 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
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 Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  3. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together434 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Make up the bulk of each dish, giving a soft, moist interior.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the balls and cakes hold their shape while cooking.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor, and helps the bread and cakes brown when fried.
Bread
Fried cubes add crisp, chewy pieces that give the dumplings more texture.
Breadcrumbs
Coat the outside of the cakes, forming a crisp, browned crust when fried.

The step that matters

Forming the balls or cakes. If the mixture is too wet or too loose, the shapes fall apart in the broth or hot fat. Adding just enough flour helps the egg and potato hold together, so add it gradually until the mixture can be shaped without sticking to your hands.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, bread, egg, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, bread, egg, pepper. 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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