Name: Koiil Cannon, or Kale Cannon
Ingredients: 2 cups smoothly mashed potatoes; 2 cups young sprouts or greens, boiled and chopped; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; 1 tablespoon butter; 2 tablespoons cream or milk; 1 onion

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 ↓

Koiil Cannon, or Kale Cannon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Mix the mashed potatoes and boiled greens together until smooth.
Season with pepper, salt, butter, and cream or milk.
Place the onion in the center of the mixture.

Cook and serve

Heat the mixture over a clear fire until very hot and dry enough to mold.
Remove the onion before serving.

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes: Form the bulk of the casserole and set its soft, smooth body.
Greens: Add color, bulk and a slightly bitter, earthy flavor to the potatoes.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
Cream or milk: Adds moisture and richness, keeping the potato mixture soft and creamy.

The step that matters

Heating until very hot and dry enough to mold. Heating drives off excess moisture so the mixture holds its shape when molded. Stop too early and it stays wet and loose; overcook and it can dry out and turn stiff.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pepper, butter, cream):

Onionthe original
Spinachfits about as well
Chivefits about as well
Capsicumfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pepper, butter, cream. 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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Koiil Cannon, or Kale Cannon