Why it works: Potato and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,052 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Potato Flour
Ingredients
Directions
Rasp the potatoes into a tub of cold water, changing the water repeatedly until the raspings settle at the bottom.
Dry the potato paste in the air, then pound it in a mortar and pass it through a fine sieve.
To make jelly, pour absolutely boiling water over the potato flour and stir until it thickens.
Flavor the jelly with a little sugar, nutmeg, and white wine before serving.
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 + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,052 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + white winetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together533 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Nutmeg + white winetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,659 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together23,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Potato + sugartop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,364 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
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, nutmeg, white wine):
- Shallotfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, nutmeg, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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