Name: Potatoes, Baked
Ingredients: large potatoes; butter; minced shallot; pepper; coarse sea salt

Why it works: Potato and shallot work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 272 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Potatoes, Baked

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Wash the potatoes in lukewarm water and scrub the skins with a soft brush.
Place the potatoes in the oven and bake for about two hours until done.
Do not leave them in the oven after they are cooked to avoid hardening.
Serve the potatoes neatly folded in a hot napkin with pats of butter.
Optionally, cut a small slice from the top of each baked potato, mix the pulp with minced shallot, a pinch of pepper, salt, and butter, then replace the lid and serve hot.

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 + shallottop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together272 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,898 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + shallottop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).