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Mashed Potatoes

A simple side dish of boiled potatoes mashed with butter, cream, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mash

  1. Peel and cut the potatoes in half, then cook until tender.

  2. Drain the potatoes and mash them finely using a fork or a vegetable masher.

  3. Season with butter and salt.

  4. Pour in the cream or milk and beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon until the mixture is foamy and white.

Serve

  1. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with pepper if desired.

  2. Serve hot with your choice of meats.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Potato + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the starchy base that mashes into a soft, fluffy body.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, silkier mouthfeel.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and dairy fat, loosening the mash and making it creamy.

The step that matters

Beating in the cream or milk. Overbeating cooked potatoes releases excess starch, which turns the mash gluey and sticky. Beat just until smooth and foamy, and warm the cream or milk first so the potatoes stay hot and absorb it evenly.

“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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