Name: Potato Balls
Ingredients: 2 cups large potatoes; 1 tablespoon melted butter; finely chopped parsley; coarse sea salt

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 ↓

Potato Balls

Ingredients

2 cups large potatoes
1 tablespoon melted butter
finely chopped parsley
coarse sea salt

Directions

Prepare

Wash and peel the potatoes, then shape them into balls using a French vegetable cutter.
Soak the potato balls in cold water for 20 minutes.

Cook and serve

Drain the potatoes and cook them in boiling salted water until soft.
Drain again, then pour melted butter over the potatoes and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

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.

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.

Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Potatoes: Form the main body of the dish, cooking to a soft, tender texture.
Melted butter: Adds richness and a glossy coating that carries flavor over the potatoes.