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Stewed Potatoes

A dish of boiled potatoes simmered with milk, butter, parsley, onion, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Stewed Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook the potatoes

  1. Soak the quartered potatoes in cold water.

  2. Boil the potatoes until almost done.

  3. Drain the water.

  4. Add milk, butter, and chopped parsley, and cook for a while longer.

  5. Thicken with flour mixed with cold water or milk, then stir.

  6. Remove from heat.

Make the onion base

  1. In a separate pan, heat drippings or butter.

  2. Sauté the onion until soft.

  3. Add the salted potatoes to the onion.

  4. Cover and stew slowly until soft, stirring occasionally.

Finish and serve

  1. In the same pan, brown a spoonful of flour in a little butter or drippings.

  2. Add soup stock, vinegar, and chopped parsley.

  3. Pour over the potatoes and boil once.

  4. Serve.

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.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

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 stew and soften into a tender, starchy body.
Milk
Adds creaminess and moisture to the stew.
Flour
Thickens the liquid as its starch swells when heated.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it cooks, adding aroma to the base.
Butter
Adds fat for richer flavor and a smoother texture.

The step that matters

Thicken with flour mixed with cold liquid. Starch clumps when dry flour hits hot liquid. Mixing it with cold water or milk first lets the granules disperse, so the stew thickens smoothly without lumps.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk, butter, parsley, flour. 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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