Name: Hop Yeast
Ingredients: 1 cup hops; 3 quarts cold water; 5 large potatoes, peeled and grated; ½ cup coarse sea salt; ½ cup sugar; 1 cup yeast

Why it works: Potato and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Hop Yeast

Ingredients

Directions

Boil hops in cold water for 15 minutes.
Strain the mixture and return it to the stove.
Add grated potatoes, salt, and sugar; stir well.
Let it boil briefly, then remove from heat and cool.
Add yeast and beat thoroughly.
Set aside by the stove until it becomes light.

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.

Potato + sugartop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Hops + potatotop 39% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Hops + sugartop 43% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).