Name: Deviled Potatoes
Ingredients: 1 dozen large potatoes; 1 cup boiled ham, chopped; 1 onion, chopped; ½ cup cream; 1 tablespoon butter; Salt, to taste; Pepper, to taste

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Deviled Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Bake the potatoes at 400°F (200°C) until done.
Cut off one end and scoop out the insides.

Fill and finish

Mash the insides and mix with ham, onion, cream, butter, salt, and pepper.
Fill the potato shells with the mixture and replace the tops.
Return to the oven and serve hot.

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 + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes: Provide the starchy base that mashes into a soft, fluffy filling.
Ham: Adds savory, salty flavor to the filling.
Onion: Adds aroma and savory depth to the filling.
Cream: Adds moisture and richness, keeping the mashed filling smooth.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a smoother, silkier texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, ham, cream, butter, pepper):

Onionthe original
Asparagusfits about as well
Spinachfits less well
Capsicumfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, ham, cream, butter, pepper. 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.