Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Potato Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Boil and mash the potatoes until smooth.
In a bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, wine, cream, eggs, lemon juice, lemon peel, and butter. Mix well and add sugar to taste.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Sprinkle the shredded citron on top.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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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Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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 pudding, giving it a soft, starchy body once mashed smooth.
- Eggs
- Set when baked, giving the pudding its firm yet tender structure.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, contributing to a smooth, tender texture.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, making the filling silkier and more tender.
- Lemons
- Juice and peel add acidity and bright citrus aroma to balance the sweetness.
- Citron
- Adds a candied-fruit aroma and a bit of chewy texture on top.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Eggs coagulate as they heat, so the pudding should be baked only until just set. Overbaking makes the eggs curdle and the texture grainy and dry.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, cream, egg, lemon, butter, sugar):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against wine, cream, egg, lemon, butter, sugar. 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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