Why it works: Potato and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,855 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Cut the cold boiled potatoes into thick slices.
In a saucepan, combine the cream or milk, butter, chopped parsley, pepper, and coarse sea salt.
Add the sliced potatoes and bring to a boil.
Transfer to a serving dish and squeeze the lemon juice over the top.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Potato + parsleytop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,036 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,039 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the bulk of the dish and absorb the buttery cream sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the sauce a smooth, silky body.
- Cream or milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding moisture and a creamy texture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter and cream.
The step that matters
Bringing the potatoes to a boil in the sauce. Boiling cream or milk can scorch or cause it to separate and become grainy. Keep the heat controlled so the sauce stays smooth and clings to the potato slices.
“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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