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Potato Cakes

A fried dish made from mashed potatoes, eggs, milk, baking powder, salt, pepper, and lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, eggs, milk, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Mix until well combined.

Fry

  1. Heat lard in a frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Spoon the potato mixture into the hot lard and fry until golden brown on both sides.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,978 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Form the bulk of the cakes and give them a soft, tender interior.
Eggs
Bind the potato mixture so the cakes hold their shape while frying.
Milk
Adds moisture and loosens the mixture so it spoons easily.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lifts the cakes and lightens their texture.
Lard
Fries the cakes, browning their surfaces and adding rich flavor.

The step that matters

Frying in the hot lard. The lard must be hot enough before the mixture goes in so the outside sets and browns quickly. If it is too cool, the cakes absorb more fat, turn greasy, and may fall apart before they set.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, 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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