Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Potato Cone
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).
Shape and bake
In a bowl, combine mashed potatoes, scalded milk, egg, and chopped onion.
Mold the mixture into cone shapes.
Sprinkle with grated cheese.
Place in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
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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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
-
Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Potato + cheesetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together959 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Onion + cheesetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,849 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
- Mashed potatoes
- Form the bulk of the cone and give it a soft, moist body.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture so the cones hold their shape while baking.
- Grated cheese
- Melts and browns on the surface for flavor and colour.
The step that matters
Molding the cones. The mixture is soft and moist, so it needs to be shaped firmly and evenly. Uneven or loose shapes can slump or bake unevenly, and the egg only binds once the mixture is well combined.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, milk, egg, cheese):
- Asparagusfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk, egg, cheese. 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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