Name: Cottage Potato Pudding
Ingredients: 2 pounds potatoes; ½ cup milk; 2 tablespoons sugar; 2 eggs, well beaten; a handful of stoned raisins

Why it works: Potato and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,611 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Cottage Potato Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA good oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a good oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the potatoes

Peel and boil the potatoes until tender.
Mash the potatoes and beat them to a smooth paste.

Make the pudding

Mix in the milk, sugar, and beaten eggs.
Add the raisins and stir until combined.
Pour the mixture into a well-greased pie dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for nearly an hour.

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 + milktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,155 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
Potato + raisintop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together91 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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 pudding, giving it a soft, starchy body once mashed.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm, sliceable custard as it bakes.
Milk: Adds moisture and softness, loosening the mashed potato into a spoonable batter.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the top brown lightly in the oven.