Skip to main content
Main

Potato Scallops

Potato scallops are baked potato shells filled with a buttery, parsley‑flavored potato mixture and topped with breadcrumbs and cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Potato Scallops

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Wash, peel, and boil the potatoes until tender.

  2. Drain and rub the potatoes through a wire sieve into a stewpan.

  3. Stir in the butter, cream, chopped parsley, egg yolks, pepper, and salt.

Fill and bake

  1. Butter scallop shells and dust them with fine breadcrumbs.

  2. Fill the shells with the potato mixture and smooth the top with a knife.

  3. Brush the tops with oiled butter, then cover with white breadcrumbs and grated cheese.

  4. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden brown.

  5. Serve the shells with a piquante or poivrade sauce on the side.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the soft, starchy body of the filling once boiled and sieved smooth.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mash and browns the crust during baking.
Cream
Makes the mashed potato smoother and softer, adding moisture and richness.
Egg yolks
Bind the potato mixture and help it set into a firm, sliceable filling when baked.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savoury flavour and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Smoothing the potato mixture into the shells. Rubbing the potatoes through a sieve and mixing in the yolks while the mash is still warm gives a smooth, evenly bound filling. Lumps or a cool, stiff mash can bake unevenly and crack on top.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, cream, egg, pepper, cheese):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, cream, egg, pepper, cheese. 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.

You might also like

Potato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesMacaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipesPotato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipesPotato ChipsPotato Chips53 recipes