Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Roly Poly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, mix mashed potatoes, flour, butter, buttermilk, and baking soda until combined.
Roll the dough out to ½ inch thick.
Fill and cook
Spread the dough with dried currants, cherries, or preserved fruit.
Roll it up tightly and tie it in a cloth.
Immerse in boiling water and boil for 2 hours.
Serve
Serve with vanilla sauce or your preferred sauce.
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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Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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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).
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Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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
- Mashed potatoes
- Adds moisture and a tender crumb to the dough.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together during boiling.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender texture.
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with the baking soda.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the buttermilk's acid to produce gas that lightens the dough.
- Dried currants, cherries, or preserved fruit
- Adds sweetness and concentrated fruit flavour to the filling.
The step that matters
Rolling the dough tightly. A tight roll with no gaps keeps the filling inside and stops water from seeping into the dough while it boils. Tying the cloth firmly helps the roll hold its shape during the long cook.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, flour, butter, buttermilk):
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Avocadofits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, flour, butter, buttermilk. 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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