Why it works: Potato and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,611 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Potato Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Peel and wash the potatoes in cold water.
Grate the potatoes using a horseradish grater.
Place the grated potatoes in a linen cloth and squeeze out all the water.
Make the batter
In a pan, combine the grated potatoes, salt, and egg yolks; beat together for a few minutes.
Stir in the rich sweet milk.
Beat the egg whites to a stiff foam and fold them into the mixture just before baking.
Fry and serve
Fry the mixture in fresh lard and serve in a warm dish.
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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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,978 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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 cake, giving body and a starchy, tender crumb when cooked.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the grated potato together and enrich the batter with fat and richness.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a stiff foam, they lighten the batter and help it rise and stay airy.
- Rich sweet milk
- Adds moisture and softness to the batter, loosening the mixture.
- Fresh lard
- Frying fat that browns the outside of the cakes and adds savoury flavour.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that lightens the batter. Folding gently, just before cooking, keeps that air in; stirring hard or letting the batter stand deflates it and makes the cakes dense.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Capsicumfits less well
- Sweet potatofits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk. 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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