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 ↓
Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Boil and mash
Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender.
Cut them open to check for hollowness.
Place the potatoes in a warm flat stone crock.
Mash the potatoes finely with a wooden beetle.
Finish and serve
Add the hot milk or cream and butter, then mash until light and smooth.
Transfer to a warm deep dish with a cover and 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.
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 their starch gives the mash its body.
- Hot sweet milk or cream
- Adds moisture and softness, loosening the mash for a smooth texture.
- Fresh butter
- Adds fat, enriching the flavour and giving a silky mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Mash the potatoes finely, then add the hot milk and butter. Overworking cooked potatoes can make them gluey, since released starch sets into a sticky paste. Mashing finely while warm and adding hot liquid and fat gently keeps the mash light and smooth.
“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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