Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Potato Sausage
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, combine the chopped veal and mashed potato.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.
Form the mixture into small cakes and dust with flour.
Fry and serve
Heat oil or sausage gravy in a pan and fry the cakes until light brown.
Serve hot.
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 + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Veal + potatotop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together343 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
- Veal
- Provides the meaty base and savory flavor of the cakes.
- Mashed potato
- Adds bulk and moisture and helps bind the chopped veal together.
- Flour
- Dusting forms a light coating that helps the cakes brown when fried.
The step that matters
Frying the cakes until light brown. Frying over steady heat in oil or gravy browns the surface through the Maillard reaction, which adds flavor. Too high a heat scorches the outside before the inside is warmed through, so the cakes should be fried gently and turned until evenly colored.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, flour):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, 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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