Why it works: Potato and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,355 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Yeast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the hop water
Put the dry hops in a saucepan and cover with 2 quarts of boiling water, then boil for a while.
Make the batter
In another saucepan, boil 8-10 potatoes until done.
Mash the potatoes finely and add 2 tablespoons of coarse sea salt.
Strain the hop-water into the mashed potatoes and stir in enough flour to make a thick batter.
Let the mixture cool until it's comfortable to touch, then stir in 1 pint of good yeast.
Rise and store
Set the mixture aside to rise for 5-6 hours or until foamy.
Strain the yeast through a colander into a stone jug, seal tightly, and store in a cool place.
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 + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Hops + flourtop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10 recipes
Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
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Hops + potatotop 39% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Their starch thickens the batter and feeds the yeast as it grows.
- Yeast
- Its live cultures ferment the starches and sugars, producing gas that makes the starter rise and turn foamy.
- Flour
- Adds more starch and body, giving the batter a thick texture for the yeast to work in.
- Dry hops
- Their infusion adds bitterness and aroma and may help preserve the starter.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool before adding the yeast. Yeast cells are killed by excessive heat, so the mixture must be cooled to a comfortable warmth before the yeast is stirred in. Adding it while still hot can stop fermentation before it starts.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (hops, flour):
- Mustardfits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against hops, flour. 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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