Why it works: Parmesan cheese and cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,041 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓
New Baked Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the potatoes
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Bake the potatoes until tender, about 45 minutes, pressing them with a cloth to make the interior fine and mealy.
Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the interior.
Fill and bake
Mix the scooped potato with butter, pepper, salt, cream, Parmesan, and Gruyère.
Fill the potato shells with the mixture, creating a hollow in the center of each.
Carefully break an egg into each hollow.
Return to the oven until the egg is almost firm, then serve immediately.
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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Parmesan cheese + cheesetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,041 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,163 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Provide the starchy base that becomes fluffy and mealy when baked and scooped.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor and making the filling smooth.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and softness to the potato filling.
- Parmesan cheese
- Adds savory, salty flavor and browning as it heats.
- Gruyère cheese
- Melts into the filling, adding nutty flavor and a creamy texture.
- Eggs
- Set in the hollows during baking, giving a soft, custard-like centre.
The step that matters
Return to the oven until the egg is almost firm. Egg whites set at lower temperatures than yolks, and the egg keeps cooking from residual heat after leaving the oven. Removing it while the white is just set and the yolk still soft avoids a rubbery, overcooked egg.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, cream, parmesan cheese, cheese, egg):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, cream, parmesan cheese, cheese, egg. 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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