Why it works: Sugar and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Perpetual YEAST-Mrs. Briggs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dissolve the yeast cake in ¼ cup of lukewarm potato water.
Fill a quart glass can half full with lukewarm potato water.
Add ½ cup of granulated sugar to the can and stir until dissolved.
Add the dissolved yeast to the can and stir well.
Ferment
Set the can in a moderately warm place and let it stand until bubbly.
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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Sugar + potatotop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Compressed yeast cake
- Provides the live yeast that ferments the sugar and makes the starter bubble.
- Granulated sugar
- Feeds the yeast, giving it the fuel it needs to produce gas and activity.
- Potato water
- Supplies the liquid medium in which the yeast dissolves and multiplies.
The step that matters
Set the can in a moderately warm place and let it stand until bubbly. Yeast works best in moderate warmth; too cold slows fermentation, while too hot can kill the yeast. Bubbling shows the yeast is active and gas is being produced.
“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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