Why it works: Ginger and potato work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 992 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Potato Yeast Without Flour
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the yeast cakes in 4 tablespoons of tepid water.
Boil the potatoes in 3 quarts of water, then pass them through a colander with the water.
Boil the hops in 1 quart of water for 10 minutes, then strain the water over the potatoes.
Add the sugar, salt, and ginger to the potato mixture.
Ensure the total volume is 5 quarts; add tepid water if needed.
When lukewarm, stir in the yeast mixture until smooth.
Keep the mixture in a warm place until bubbles form on the surface.
Store in a stone crock, covered, and stir from the bottom before use.
It can be kept in a dry, cool place for months.
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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Ginger + potatotop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together992 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + potatotop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, ginger):
- Sweet potatofits better
- Carrotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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