Why it works: Potato and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,456 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Baked Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Wash and scrape or peel the potatoes thinly.
Parboil the potatoes in salted water for a few minutes.
Drain the potatoes and sprinkle with butter.
Bake
Place the potatoes in a buttered grease-proof paper bag and fasten it securely.
Put the bag on a grid or trivet in a 400 °F (200 °C) oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
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 + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- New potatoes
- Provide the starchy flesh that becomes soft and fluffy after parboiling and baking.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the potatoes as they bake.
The step that matters
Fastening the paper bag securely. A tightly sealed bag traps steam around the potatoes, so they cook through in the oven and stay moist instead of drying out.
“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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