Name: Potato Cheese
Ingredients: 6 oz. mashed potatoes; 2 lemons; 6 oz. sugar; 2 oz. butter

Why it works: Potato and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,230 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Potato Cheese

Ingredients

6 oz. mashed potatoes
2 lemons
6 oz. sugar
2 oz. butter

Directions

Make the mixture

Grate the rind of the lemons and pound it with the sugar in a mortar.
Add the finely mashed potatoes to the lemon-sugar mixture.
Melt the butter and mix it with the lemon juice and the rest of the ingredients.
Mix everything thoroughly and fill the mixture into a jar.

Store

Keep the jar closely covered.

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.

Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,230 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Lemon and sugar 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

Mashed potatoes: Provides body and a soft, creamy texture to the mixture.
Sugar: Sweetens the mixture and helps draw out and blend the lemon rind flavour.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, giving the mixture a smooth, spreadable texture.
Lemons: Supply acidity and bright aroma from the rind and juice.