Name: Scalloped Vegetables
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked potatoes, cubed; 1 cup cooked onions, quartered; 1 cup cooked cauliflower, separated into flowerets; 2 tablespoons butter; ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ⅛ teaspoon white pepper

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Scalloped Vegetables

Ingredients

2 cups cooked potatoes, cubed
1 cup cooked onions, quartered
1 cup cooked cauliflower, separated into flowerets
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
⅛ teaspoon white pepper

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Assemble and bake

In a baking dish, layer the cooked vegetables.
Dot the top with butter and sprinkle with salt and white pepper.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until heated through and slightly golden on top.

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + cauliflowertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together36 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Onion + cauliflowertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together935 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes: Form the bulk of the dish and give it a soft, starchy body.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture to the top and helps it brown lightly in the oven.
Onions: Add savory flavor and aroma as they soften and mellow in the bake.
Cauliflower: Adds mild flavor and a tender texture that holds its shape in the bake.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, onion, cauliflower, butter):

Garlicfits better
Capersfits better
Parsleyfits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, onion, cauliflower, butter. 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.