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 ↓
Potato Cakes, II
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Beat the egg in a bowl.
Mix the egg with the cold mashed potatoes, salt, and pepper.
Form the mixture into cakes.
Cook
Fry the cakes in hot fat until golden brown on both sides.
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 + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,978 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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
- Cold mashed potatoes
- Form the bulk of the cakes and provide their soft, tender body.
- Egg
- Binds the potatoes so the cakes hold their shape while frying.
The step that matters
Fry the cakes in hot fat until golden brown on both sides. If the fat is not hot enough, the cakes absorb grease and turn soggy rather than browning. Cooking them until golden on both sides builds a crisp crust and fully heats the centre.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against 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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