Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Potatoes Au Gratin
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
Mash the potatoes with milk and butter.
Press the mixture firmly into a mold that has been wet with cold water.
Turn the mold out immediately.
Bake and serve
Sift fine dry crumbs over the potato mold.
Place in a 400°F (200°C) oven for five minutes to heat through.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the bulk of the dish and set into a firm shape when pressed.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and softness to the mashed potatoes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and smooth texture.
- Fine dry crumbs
- Form a dry coating over the mold that helps it brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Turn the mold out immediately. Potato mashed with milk and butter cools and firms quickly, so delaying the unmolding can make it stick or tear. Turning it out while still warm keeps the shape clean.
“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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