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Scalloped Potatoes

A baked potato dish layered with cracker crumbs, milk, egg, butter, and optional green pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Assemble

  1. In a baking dish, layer sliced potatoes and sprinkle with seasoned cracker crumbs.

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg into the milk and pour over the potatoes.

  3. Add small pieces of butter on top of the mixture.

  4. Repeat the layering until the dish is filled.

  5. Top with a thin layer of moistened cracker crumbs.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until hot and golden.

  2. Serve hot, adding chopped green pepper for extra flavor 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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Sliced potatoes
Form the bulk of the dish and become tender as they bake in the custard.
Egg
Helps the milk mixture set into a creamy, sliceable custard when baked.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that cooks into a creamy sauce around the potatoes.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown as it bakes.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping and add savory seasoning.

The step that matters

Pour the milk and egg mixture evenly over the potatoes. The egg needs the liquid to be spread through every layer so the custard sets evenly. Pouring over the potatoes lets the liquid soak down, so the dish bakes creamy rather than dry or watery in spots.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, butter, 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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