Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Potato Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the potato base
Boil the potatoes until tender, then pass them through a sieve.
Stir in powdered sugar to taste and the egg yolks.
Add a few drops of essence of lemon.
Finish and bake
Whisk the egg whites to a froth and mix quickly into the potato mixture.
Pour the mixture into a buttered and breadcrumbed mold.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 20 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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,230 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Potato + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together434 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Provide the starchy, smooth body that makes up most of the pudding.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the mixture and add richness and binding to the potato base.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a froth, they lighten the mixture and help it rise in the oven.
- Powdered loaf sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and dissolves smoothly into the smooth potato base.
The step that matters
Whisk the egg whites to a froth and mix quickly into the potato mixture. Whipped egg white traps air that gives lift. Folding gently and quickly keeps that air from collapsing, so the pudding rises in the oven instead of turning dense.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, lemon, butter, bread):
- Asparagusfits better
- Leekfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, lemon, butter, bread. 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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