Why it works: Potato and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Fried Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Cut cold boiled potatoes into slices ½ inch thick.
Fry in a well-greased frying pan with salt pork or bacon fat until brown on both sides.
Season with coarse sea salt and a little black pepper.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Potato + porktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold boiled potatoes
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming crisp and browned on the outside while staying tender inside.
- Salt pork or bacon fat
- Conducts heat evenly and adds fat that browns the potato surfaces and adds savoury flavour.
The step that matters
Frying until brown on both sides. The pan must be well greased and hot enough so the potato slices brown rather than steam. Crowding or flipping too early keeps the surfaces pale and soft.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatothe original
- Tomatofits less well
- Carrotfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, 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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