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Potato Mould

A baked potato custard made with boiled potatoes, eggs, Parmesan, butter, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Parmesan cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Potato Mould

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Boil the potatoes until tender, then pass them through a fine sieve into a large bowl.

  2. While the potatoes are still hot, mix in the egg yolks and grated Parmesan cheese, seasoning with pepper.

  3. Melt the butter and stir it into the potato mixture.

  4. Gently fold in the whisked egg whites until well combined.

Bake

  1. Transfer the mixture to a buttered pudding mold, filling it not quite to the top.

  2. Cover the mold with a sheet of paper and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25 minutes.

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. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  4. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Potato + parmesan cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together572 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Floury potatoes
Provide the starchy base that gives the custard its soft, light body.
Egg yolks
Enrich the mixture and help it set into a tender custard when baked.
Egg whites
Whisked and folded in to trap air, helping the mould rise and lighten.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury flavour and a little salty depth to the custard.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving a smoother texture and flavour.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Folding gently keeps the whisked whites full of air. Overmixing deflates them, so the mould bakes denser and rises less.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, parmesan cheese, pepper, butter):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Spinachfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, parmesan cheese, pepper, butter. 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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