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Potato Pudding

A baked dish of mashed potatoes, butter, eggs, sugar, brandy, spices, and pastry crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Potato Pudding

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. While the mashed potatoes are warm, mix in the butter until well combined.

  2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the fine sugar until fluffy.

  3. Combine the egg mixture with the potato mixture, then add the brandy and spices.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a prepared pastry crust.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until set and golden.

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. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  4. Brandy + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Form the bulk of the pudding and give it a soft, filling body.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a smooth, tender texture.
Eggs
Set during baking to give the pudding its structure and firm custard-like body.
Fine sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the beaten eggs stay light and fluffy.
Brandy
Contributes aroma and flavor depth to the pudding.

The step that matters

Bake until set and golden. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the filling loose and wet, while overbaking can make it dry and rubbery. Look for a firm center and golden top rather than relying on time alone.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, egg, sugar, brandy, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, egg, sugar, brandy, nutmeg. 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.

More potato pudding recipes

Sweet 116Irish 14Brandy 9Baked 7Cottage 6Lemon 5 See all 236 →

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