Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Potato Balls
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Steam the potatoes until tender, then beat them until smooth and lump-free.
Mix in the butter, salt, and boiling cream or milk.
Form the mixture into walnut-sized balls.
Brush each ball with beaten egg.
Fry and serve
Fry in hot butter until nicely browned.
Serve with good brown gravy.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Potato + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mealy potatoes
- Starchy base that becomes light and fluffy when beaten smooth, giving the balls their body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour, and helps the balls brown when fried.
- Boiling cream or milk
- Adds moisture and softness, making the mash easier to shape.
- Egg
- Forms a glossy coating that promotes even browning during frying.
The step that matters
Fry in hot butter until nicely browned. Butter browns through the Maillard reaction and milk solids, but it can burn if too hot. Keep the heat moderate so the outside colours evenly before the interior heats through.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream, egg, ham):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Onionfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, egg, ham. 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.
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