Why it works: Potato and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,355 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Potato Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Boil the mealy potatoes until soft.
While hot, rub the potatoes through a sieve.
Make the paste
Place the sieved potatoes in a stewpan over medium heat.
Add enough water to achieve a mushy consistency.
Sift in 1 quart of flour and mix to form a paste.
Knead the paste until very light.
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 + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mealy potatoes
- Provide the starch and body that form the bulk of the paste.
- Flour
- Adds structure, binding the potato into a firm, workable paste.
The step that matters
Rub the potatoes through a sieve while hot. Potatoes turn gluey when cold or overworked, because cooling starch sets and the cells rupture under force. Pressing them hot keeps the texture smooth and light.
“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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