Why it works: Potato and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,107 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Potato Gruel
Ingredients
Directions
Rub steamed floury potatoes through a fine sieve.
Beat the potatoes with milk until smooth and the consistency of thin cream.
Optionally, use well-boiled carrots in the same way.
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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Potato + carrottop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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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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Milk + carrottop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the carrot
The recipe marks carrot as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, milk):
- Asparagusfits better
- Tomatofits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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