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Mexican Potatoes

Mexican Potatoes are stuffed baked potatoes filled with eggs, cheese, and tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mexican 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.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Peel and halve the large potatoes, then scoop out the center.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, mash the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs and finely chop the whites.

  2. Mix the mashed yolks, chopped egg whites, beaten raw egg, minced parsley, grated onion, and melted butter.

  3. Heap the mixture into the hollowed potatoes.

Bake and serve

  1. Sprinkle crumbs and grated cheese on top.

  2. Bake until browned and serve with tomato sauce around the potatoes.

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.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Parsley + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Hollowed halves hold the filling and provide the starchy base of the dish.
Eggs
Bind the filling so it holds its shape, and the yolks add richness.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the filling and helps it brown on top.
Grated cheese
Melts over the filling and browns in the oven, adding flavor and a golden crust.
Crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping that contrasts with the soft filling.

The step that matters

Bake until browned. Potatoes need enough time in the oven to become fully tender through the centre, while the surface browns. Underbaked halves stay firm inside, and the topping can burn before the potato softens if the heat is too high.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, egg, onion, butter, cheese, tomato, sauce):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, egg, onion, butter, cheese, tomato, sauce. 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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