Name: Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients: Potatoes; Milk or cream; Butter; Coarse sea salt; Pepper; 1-2 eggs (optional)

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Mashed Potatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Peel and boil the potatoes until tender, then drain and mash them in the kettle until smooth.
Add milk or cream, butter, and coarse sea salt, then beat with a large spoon until well combined.
Transfer to a dish, smooth the top, and place a lump of butter in the center. Sprinkle with pepper.
For a richer dish, mix in 1-2 well-beaten eggs, then place in a baking dish.
Dip a knife in milk and smooth over the top, ensuring it's evenly coated.
Bake in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C) for 20 minutes.
To reheat, season with salt and butter, add a little cream or milk, and shape in a buttered pie pan.
Brown in the oven, then serve on a second dish.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).