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Cocoanut Duchess Potatoes

A baked potato dish mixed with milk, eggs, pepper, salt, and coconut.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cocoanut Duchess Potatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the potato mixture

  1. Mix the mashed potatoes, milk, egg yolks, pepper, and salt thoroughly.

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the potato mixture carefully.

Bake

  1. Transfer the mixture to a greased baking dish and sprinkle the top lightly with coconut.

  2. Place the baking dish in a pan of hot water and bake at 350°F (175°C) until firm.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  3. Milk + coconuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,648 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Potato + coconuttop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together375 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + coconuttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together969 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylethanol (rose, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Provide the bulk and starchy structure that the dish sets around.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the mixture as it sets.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the mixture and give it rise and a airy texture.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the potato mixture.
Coconut
Sprinkled on top, it adds flavor and light browning during baking.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Beaten whites hold air that gives the dish its lift. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring vigorously deflates the foam and leaves the dish dense.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, milk, egg, pepper):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Mangofits better
  3. Cherryfits about as well
  4. Coconutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk, egg, 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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