Why it works: Potato and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,355 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Pudding a LA Fecule Des Pommes De Terre
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the custard
Bruise a couple of bay leaves and boil them in 1 pint of water or milk.
Mix two dessert spoonfuls of potato flour and powdered loaf sugar.
When the mixture is smooth, pour the hot liquid over it, stirring constantly.
Bake
Put the mixture in a buttered dish and bake for a quarter of an hour in a hot oven.
When done, pour over a half pint of cream.
Serve
If serving cold, pour fresh cream over it before serving.
Sprinkle crushed loaf sugar on top.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Cream + potatotop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potato flour
- Starch thickens the hot liquid and sets the mixture into a soft, spoonable pudding.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, moist texture to the finished pudding.
- Water
- Serves as the hot liquid that hydrates the starch and forms the pudding's base.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot liquid while stirring constantly. Potato starch must be dispersed in the mixture before heat is applied; pouring hot liquid onto the flour while stirring keeps it from clumping. Once the starch hydrates and heats, it thickens the liquid into a smooth set.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, flour):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Leekfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, flour. 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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