Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
New Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Scrape the skins off the new potatoes.
Wash them in cold water.
Boil and drain
Place the potatoes in boiling water with a little coarse sea salt.
Keep the water boiling until the potatoes are done.
Pour off the water.
Set the potatoes aside, leaving the cover slightly open to let out steam.
Finish and serve
In a saucepan, combine fresh butter and finely chopped parsley.
Place the mixture in a pan of boiling water for 1 minute.
Pour the butter and parsley mixture over the potatoes.
Serve with drawn butter from a sauce tureen.
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 + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- New potatoes
- Form the main body of the dish, cooking into a tender, soft interior.
- Fresh butter
- Adds richness and moisture, coating the potatoes and carrying flavour.
- Fresh parsley
- Adds fresh, herbal aroma and a bit of colour to the butter.
The step that matters
Keep the water boiling until the potatoes are done. A rolling boil keeps the water temperature high and steady, so the potatoes cook through evenly. If the water drops to a simmer, cooking slows and the potatoes can turn unevenly cooked or waterlogged.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter):
- Parsleythe original
- Thymefits about as well
- Garlicfits less well
- Nutmegfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, 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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