Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓
Potato Ceoquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Pass the potatoes through a sieve.
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the potatoes, milk, salt, and pepper to the butter.
Shape and coat
Shape the mixture into small cakes.
Roll each cake in beaten egg and then in bread crumbs.
Fry
Fry the cakes in hot fat until golden brown.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 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
- Potatoes
- Provide the bulk and starch that hold the cakes together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor to the potato mixture.
- Egg
- Binds the coating so the bread crumbs stick to each cake.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and softens the potatoes for shaping.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, browning outer coating during frying.
The step that matters
Fry the cakes in hot fat until golden brown.. Hot fat quickly sets and browns the crumb coating, creating a crisp crust. Fat that is too cool soaks in, leaving greasy, soft cakes that can fall apart.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, egg, pepper, milk, bread):
- Parsleythe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Cinnamonfits less well
- Thymefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, egg, pepper, milk, bread. 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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