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Baked Potato

A baked potato is a medium-sized potato cooked in an oven until soft, served hot with salt and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,456 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Baked Potato

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Select smooth, medium sized potatoes.

  2. Scrub clean with a vegetable brush.

Bake and serve

  1. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F (200°C) until soft.

  2. Press between your fingers in a towel to check doneness; do not pierce with a fork.

  3. When done, roll in a towel and break the skin to let steam escape.

  4. Serve very hot with salt and butter.

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.

  1. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the starchy flesh that turns soft and fluffy when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the hot flesh as it melts.

The step that matters

Check doneness by pressing, not piercing. A fork pierces the skin and lets moisture escape, which can leave the flesh drier. Pressing with a towel shows softness while keeping the potato intact.

“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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