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Mashed Potato Yeast

A yeast starter made from mashed potatoes, hops, water, yeast, salt, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Evora Bucknum Perkins · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and cheese work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 959 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Mashed Potato Yeast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potato mixture

  1. Mix 1¼ cup smooth mashed potato with 1 tablespoon loose hops, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt.

  2. Boil ¾ cup water with the mashed potatoes and hops.

  3. Tie the hops in a piece of cheesecloth and cook with the well‑washed but not peeled potatoes; when done, drain, peel, and rub through a colander onto salt and sugar; beat well.

Make the starter

  1. Dissolve 1 cake of dry yeast in ¼ cup water with a little sugar, or combine ½ cup hop water and ½ cup liquid yeast.

  2. Gradually pour water, add yeast, beat, and transfer to a clean glass jar; cover loosely and let stand in a warm room until bubbles form, then place in a cold place. When cooled, tighten the cover and refrigerate.

  3. Use ¼–½ cup yeast per pint of liquid, depending on desired rise time.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

890Calories
29 gProtein
11 gFat
169 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 8 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Mashed Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Hopnot in our table0
Cakenot in our table0

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

By Evora Bucknum Perkins. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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 + cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together959 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potato
Adds starch and body, giving the starter a thick base that feeds the yeast.
Dry yeast
Provides the live yeast that ferments sugars and produces bubbles and rise.
Hops
Contributes bitterness and aroma, and helps preserve the starter.
Sugar (in the method)
Feeds the yeast so fermentation starts and bubbles form.

The step that matters

Let the starter stand warm until bubbles form, then cool it before sealing. Yeast needs warmth to become active and produce gas, but sealing a jar while it is still warm can trap pressure and encourage unwanted fermentation. Cooling slows the yeast before refrigeration.

“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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