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Potatoes Au Gratin

A baked potato dish with butter, flour, milk, cheese, and cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Potatoes Au Gratin

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Potatoes Au Gratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

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.

Make the sauce

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan.

  2. In a separate bowl, rub together the flour, butter, and pepper to form a smooth paste.

  3. Add the paste to the hot milk, stirring until smooth.

  4. Stir in the grated cheese and cracker crumbs, then add the chopped parsley.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a buttered baking dish, layer half of the potatoes, followed by half of the sauce, then the remaining potatoes, and top with the remaining sauce.

  2. Cover with butter and cracker crumbs.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 10 minutes.

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.

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.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the dish, absorbing the sauce and softening as they bake.
Butter
Combines with flour to make the roux that thickens the sauce and adds richness.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce when cooked with butter.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce that coats the potatoes.
Grated cheese
Adds savoury flavour and helps the sauce set and brown on top.
Cracker crumbs
Add a crisp, golden topping that browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Making the smooth paste and sauce. Rubbing flour and butter together before adding hot milk helps prevent lumps, because the fat coats the flour particles so they disperse evenly. Stirring until smooth keeps the sauce silky and thick.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, flour, milk, pepper, cheese):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Cinnamonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, flour, milk, pepper, cheese. 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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