Why it works: Cream and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and 29,399 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Potatoes and Onions
Ingredients
Directions
Pare and boil till done ; drain ; mash in the kettle until perfectly smooth ; add a cupful of cream or a generous lump of butter and a cupful of milk ; pepper and salt to taste ; mince a medium sized onion quite fine ; add to the potato and mix well ; cover closely, and let cook about ten minutes. R. B. Clark.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together26,984 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and pepper share little aroma chemistry, yet 21,449 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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