Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Potato Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the potatoes
Boil the potatoes until tender.
Mash the boiled potatoes very fine.
Make the batter
Beat the mashed potatoes with the egg yolks, sugar, and butter until well combined.
Beat the egg whites to a strong froth.
Fold the beaten egg whites into the mixture.
Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and milk or cream, stirring well.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 1.5 hours.
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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Butter + milktop 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 + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,230 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 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
- Potatoes
- Provide the starchy bulk that gives the pudding its soft, tender body.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the mixture as it sets in the oven.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a froth, they lighten the batter and help it rise and set airily.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender texture.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown lightly during baking.
- Milk or cream
- Adds moisture and liquid so the batter bakes into a soft, custard-like pudding.
The step that matters
Fold the beaten egg whites in gently. Egg whites hold air only when whipped and kept intact. Stirring them hard deflates the foam, so the pudding bakes denser and loses its lift.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, lemon, milk):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Leekfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, lemon, 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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