Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓
Boiled Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Wash, peel, and cut the potatoes into half-inch slices.
Rinse the sliced potatoes in cold water.
Cover the potatoes with boiling water and cook gently until a fork pierces them easily.
Pour off the water. Uncover the pot for an instant, then replace the lid and shake the pot violently up and down once.
Partly remove the cover and set the pot on the stove for a few minutes to dry the potatoes.
Transfer the potatoes to a hot vegetable dish and sprinkle with salt.
Make the sauce
In a separate pan, stir the butter until it becomes a cream.
Add the flour and ¼ teaspoon salt to the butter and beat well.
Add the boiling milk and boil gently for about ten minutes.
Stir in the minced parsley and a dust of pepper.
Serve
Serve at once.
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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Parsley + peppertop 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).
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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).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Provide the starchy body of the dish, which softens into a tender, fork-pierceable texture when cooked gently.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and with flour forms the base that thickens the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth, cohesive sauce by absorbing liquid as it heats.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid of the sauce, adding creaminess and body as it simmers with the flour mixture.
The step that matters
Drying the potatoes after draining. Leaving the potatoes on the stove after the water is poured off lets surface moisture evaporate, so they stay fluffy rather than watery and do not dilute the dish.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, flour, milk, pepper):
- Parsleythe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, flour, milk, 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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