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Potatoes Au Gratin

A baked dish of sliced potatoes in a creamy sauce with cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Potatoes Au Gratin

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 ↓

Potatoes Au Gratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the flour, salt, and pepper, stirring until hot.

  3. Gradually add the milk, cooking until the sauce is smooth.

Assemble and bake

  1. Fold in the sliced potatoes and heat through.

  2. Transfer to buttered individual dishes or a baking dish.

  3. Gently fold in the chopped cheese and bake for about 10 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold boiled potatoes
Form the bulk of the dish, absorbing the sauce and giving body to each serving.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and carries flavour, while helping the flour cook smoothly.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce that clings to the potatoes.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it creaminess and body.
Cheese
Melts into the sauce and adds savoury flavour and richness.

The step that matters

Cooking the milk into the sauce. Adding milk gradually while stirring keeps lumps from forming. Flour needs to be heated and dispersed in the liquid so its starch can thicken the sauce smoothly and evenly.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, pepper, milk, cheese):

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits less well
  4. Chivefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, pepper, milk, cheese. 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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