Why it works: Potato and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,611 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Potato Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Mash the boiled potatoes with the milk and strain the mixture.
In a bowl, combine the strained potatoes with sugar, eggs, and grated lemon, and mix well until smooth.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°C).
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.
-
Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
-
Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,230 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
What each ingredient does
- Boiled potatoes
- Provides the main body and creamy, dense texture of the pudding.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps the mashed potato blend into a smooth mixture.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set as the pudding bakes, giving it structure.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the baked texture tender.
- Lemon
- Grated lemon adds a bright citrus aroma and flavor.
The step that matters
Mix until smooth before baking. Potato lumps left in the batter stay visible after baking, and eggs need to be evenly blended so the custard sets with a uniform, smooth texture.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg, lemon):
- Asparagusfits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, egg, lemon. 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.
More potato pudding recipes
You might also like
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Potato Rolls78 recipes
Potato Chips53 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.