Why it works: Potato and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Potato Snow
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Choose mealy potatoes that will boil very white.
Peel the potatoes and cook them until tender but not watery.
Drain the potatoes and mash them well.
Season and serve
Season the mashed potatoes with fine salt.
Keep the mashed potatoes hot in the saucepan.
Press the potatoes through a wire sieve into a serving dish.
Sprinkle a little fine salt on top before serving.
Optionally, add a small amount of pounded loaf sugar while mashing.
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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Potato + sugartop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mealy potatoes
- Their high starch and dry, fluffy texture give the light, snowy structure once pressed through a sieve.
- Fine salt
- Seasons the potatoes and brings out their natural flavour.
- Pounded loaf sugar
- Adds a little sweetness to the mashed potatoes.
The step that matters
Cook the potatoes until tender but not watery. Potatoes that hold excess water turn heavy and gluey when mashed and cannot pass through a sieve as light, fine strands. Draining well and keeping them dry gives the snowy texture.
“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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