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 ↓
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, sugar, butter, flour, milk, eggs, and salt. Mix well until smooth.
Add your choice of lemon, nutmeg, or vanilla for flavor.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish. Bake for 1 hour or 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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm, sliceable pudding as it bakes.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture and gives the pudding body and structure.
- Mashed potatoes
- Form the base of the pudding, giving bulk, moisture and a soft texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, smooth texture.
- Milk
- Adds liquid that hydrates the flour and gives a creamy custard-like body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and aids gentle browning on the surface.
The step that matters
Mix until smooth before baking. Lumps of flour or unmixed potato stay dense and uneven after baking. Thorough mixing hydrates the flour and distributes the eggs, so the pudding sets evenly.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, milk, egg, lemon):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Leekfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, milk, egg, lemon. 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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