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 ↓
Broiled Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel and slice the cold boiled potatoes into ⅓ inch thick slices.
Dip the slices into the dissolved butter.
Grill
Place them on a grill over a clear fire.
Grill until nicely browned underneath, then turn them over.
Once browned on both sides, place them in a heated dish.
Serve
Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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).
-
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold boiled potatoes
- Form the body of the dish, and their surface starches and sugars brown on the grill.
- Dissolved butter
- Fat that coats the slices, carrying flavor and helping them brown evenly.
The step that matters
Grilling until browned on both sides. Browning comes from sugars and starches at the surface, so the fire must be clear and steady. Turning only once the underside is nicely browned lets the slices brown evenly without scorching before they are heated through.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatothe original
- Carrotfits less well
- Onionfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper. 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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