Why it works: Barley and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 165 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Potato Biscuit
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together.
Pass the cooked potato through a ricer.
Make the dough
Add the riced potato, shortening, and milk to the dry ingredients.
Cut in the mixture with a knife until combined.
Toss the dough on a floured surface and pat it out to about ½ inch thickness.
Bake
Cut out biscuits and bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.
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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Barley + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together165 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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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Flour + barleytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together582 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Barley + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together598 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the biscuits together as they bake.
- Cooked potato
- Adds moisture and softness to the dough, keeping the biscuits tender.
- Shortening
- Adds fat that coats flour particles, producing a tender, flaky crumb.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and binds the dough, adding richness and browning.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven, causing the biscuits to rise and become light.
The step that matters
Cut in the mixture until just combined. Overworking the dough develops gluten, which makes biscuits tough. Stopping once the mixture is just combined keeps them tender.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, barley, milk):
- Leekfits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Turnipfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, barley, 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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