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Scolloped Potatoes

Layered boiled potatoes, crackers, butter, pepper, salt, and cream baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Scolloped Potatoes

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

  1. Slice the boiled potatoes thinly.

Layer and bake

  1. In a pudding dish, layer the potatoes, followed by a thin layer of rolled crackers.

  2. Sprinkle with pepper, coarse sea salt, and add small pieces of butter.

  3. Repeat the layers until the dish is filled.

  4. Pour 1 cup of cream or rich milk over the top.

  5. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 45 minutes.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Potato + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Boiled potatoes
Form the bulk of the dish and soften into a tender, starchy base as they bake.
Rolled crackers
Add a crumbly layer that soaks up some liquid and helps thicken the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that helps the top brown during baking.
Cream or rich milk
Supplies liquid and fat that cook into a creamy, sauce-like binding around the potatoes.

The step that matters

Pour the cream or rich milk over the top. The dairy needs to reach the lower layers so they absorb it. If the layers are not evenly built, some potatoes stay dry while others get soggy. Layering evenly lets the liquid soak through as the dish bakes.

“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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