Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
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).
Line pie tins with good pastry.
Make and bake the filling
In a large bowl, mix together the mashed potatoes, eggs, sugar, butter, cream, lemon juice, and brandy until well combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pie tins.
Bake in the preheated oven until set and lightly golden.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,230 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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 fat that softens the texture of the filling.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown lightly in the oven.
- Mashed potatoes
- Form the body of the filling and give it a soft, thick texture.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, making the filling smoother.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and bright aroma that balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Bake until set and lightly golden. Eggs thicken as they heat, so baking until just set gives a firm but tender filling. Overbaking can make the eggs curdle and turn the texture grainy or rubbery.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, cream, lemon, brandy):
- Shallotfits about as well
- Arrowrootfits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, cream, lemon, brandy. 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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