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A baked potato dish with a batter of flour and eggs, topped with bread crumbs and optional meat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

To Bake

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Boil the sliced potatoes in water with salt until soft.

  2. Drain the water.

  3. Mash the potatoes.

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, mix flour and eggs to create a batter.

  2. Combine the mashed potatoes with the batter and mix well.

  3. Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish.

  4. Mix in soaked bread crumbs, sweet cream, chopped parsley, and cayenne pepper.

Bake the potato bake

  1. Cover the top with bread crumbs.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

  3. Add minced sausage or other meat to the mixture before baking.

Bake the potato slices

  1. Place potato slices on a greased baking sheet.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.

  3. Add a small piece of bacon on each slice if desired.

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.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  4. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the bulk and starch that gives the bake its soft, sliceable body.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm as it bakes.
Flour
Thickens the batter and helps hold the potatoes together.
Bread crumbs
Add texture and a browned, crisp top layer when baked.
Sweet cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the interior tender.

The step that matters

Drain the water. Excess water left in the boiled potatoes dilutes the mash and makes the bake soggy and loose, so drain them well before mashing.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, bread, cream, parsley, pepper, meat):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, bread, cream, parsley, pepper, meat. 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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