Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Virginia Potato Pie
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the filling
In a bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until well combined.
Cream the butter in a separate bowl, then add the egg and sugar mixture and beat well.
Mix the mashed potatoes and milk into the butter mixture until smooth.
Add vanilla extract to taste.
Bake
Pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake until set.
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.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the filling and help it set firm when baked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender, smooth texture to the filling.
- Mashed potatoes
- Provide body and a dense, creamy texture to the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps it brown lightly as it bakes.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the filling to a smooth consistency.
The step that matters
Pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake until set. Eggs thicken as they heat, so the filling must be baked until just set. Underbaking leaves it runny, while overbaking can make it curdle or crack.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, vanilla):
- Sweet potatofits better
- Arrowrootfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, vanilla. 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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