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Delmonico Potatoes

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Delmonico Potatoes

Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Delmonico Potatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper, then gradually add the milk, stirring until thickened.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a buttered baking dish, layer the potatoes, sauce, and grated cheese alternately.

  2. Top with buttered cracker crumbs.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 12 to 15 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

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 and provide the soft, starchy body of the gratin.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and carries flavour while helping the crumbs brown.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce that holds the layers together.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, setting into a creamy binder as it thickens.
Grated cheese
Melts into the layers, adding richness and savoury flavour.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping over the baked layers.

The step that matters

Stirring the flour into the butter and adding the milk gradually. Flour must be cooked briefly in the melted butter and whisked into the milk slowly so starch granules swell evenly. Adding milk too fast or not stirring causes lumps and a thin or grainy sauce.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits less well
  4. Chivefits less well

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