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Stewed Potatoes

A simple stew of potatoes, onion, milk, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stewed Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and dice the potatoes.

  2. Stew the potatoes with the onion in enough hot water to cover them.

  3. Remove most of the water and take out the onion.

Finish the stew

  1. Add the cold milk and bring to a boil.

  2. Stir in the chopped parsley, pepper, salt, and butter rolled in flour.

  3. Boil once more and serve.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the body of the stew, softening as they cook and thickening the liquid slightly.
Cold milk
Adds creaminess and richness to the broth as it comes to a boil.
Flour
Thickens the liquid when rolled with butter and stirred in, giving the stew body.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and carries the flour into the stew smoothly.

The step that matters

Stirring in the butter rolled in flour. Flour added directly to hot liquid clumps, so it should be kneaded into the butter first and stirred in gradually. Boiling after thickening helps the starch swell fully and cook out any raw floury taste.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, milk, parsley, pepper, butter, flour):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk, parsley, pepper, butter, flour. 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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