Why it works: Potato and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 235 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Broiled Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut cold boiled potatoes into lengthwise slices, about ¼ inch thick.
Dip each slice in wheat flour.
Cook
Place the slices on a grill over a bright fire of coals.
Cook until both sides are nicely browned.
Serve
Transfer to a hot dish, add a bit of butter, and season with pepper and salt to taste.
Serve hot.
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.
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Potato + wheattop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together235 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
What each ingredient does
- Cold boiled potatoes
- Form the main body of the dish, cooked already and sliced to crisp and brown on the outside.
- Wheat flour
- Dusting forms a thin coating that helps the slices brown and develop a crisp surface.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the hot potatoes after grilling.
The step that matters
Cook until both sides are nicely browned. Flour-dusted slices need enough direct heat to brown. Too little heat leaves them pale and soft, while flipping too early can tear the coating from the surface.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, flour, butter, pepper):
- Spinachfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, flour, butter, pepper. 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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