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Mont Blanc Potato

A baked potato dish with milk, egg whites, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Mont Blanc Potato

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the potato mixture

  1. Whip the boiled potatoes with a wooden or silver fork until light and dry.

  2. Gradually whip in the hot milk until fully combined.

  3. Fold in the frothed egg whites gently.

Bake and serve

  1. Heap the mixture conically in a deep silver or stoneware dish.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until the surface hardens slightly, but before it browns.

  3. Lightly brush the top with butter before serving.

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

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

  2. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Boiled potatoes
Provide the bulk and starch that give the mixture its light, fluffy body.
Hot milk
Adds moisture and softens the potatoes so they blend into a smooth mixture.
Egg whites
Whipped and folded in, they trap air and help the dish rise and set lightly when baked.
Butter
Brushed on top for richness and a little flavour and sheen at the end.

The step that matters

Bake until just hardened, not browned. Egg whites set as they heat, so the surface firms up first. Baking too long at high heat dries the mixture and browns the top, making it tough rather than light and soft.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, butter):

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Chivefits less well
  4. Leekfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, butter. 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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