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 ↓
Potatoes, Mashed, with Onions
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Boil the potatoes until tender, about 30-60 minutes.
Drain and dry the potatoes, then mash them.
Add the onions
Finely mince the boiled onions and mix them into the mashed potatoes.
Adjust the amount of onion to taste.
For a stronger flavor, you can also add a raw chopped onion.
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.
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 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
- Starchy base that gives the mash its soft, fluffy body when mashed.
- Onions
- Adds savory aroma and flavor to the mashed potatoes.
The step that matters
Drain and dry the potatoes before mashing. Surface water left on boiled potatoes dilutes the mash and makes it loose. Excess mashing or overworking releases starch, which can make the texture gluey. Drying the potatoes well keeps the mash thick and fluffy.
“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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