Why it works: Parsley and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
New Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the potatoes well and rub them with a coarse cloth to remove the skins.
Place the potatoes in cold water until all skins are removed.
Cook
Put the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with warm water. Add 1 teaspoon of salt.
Bring to a boil and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until easily pierced with a skewer.
Strain the potatoes and cover with a damp cloth to dry thoroughly.
Serve
Melt the butter in the saucepan with the potatoes.
Transfer to a hot vegetable dish and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
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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Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- New potatoes
- Form the main body of the dish, cooking to a soft, tender interior.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a glossy coating that carries flavour over the potatoes.
The step that matters
Drying the potatoes after straining. Leaving surface moisture on the potatoes dilutes the butter so it slides off rather than clinging. Drying them under a damp cloth helps the butter coat the surface evenly.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, potato):
- Parsleythe original
- Thymefits about as well
- Garlicfits less well
- Nutmegfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, potato. 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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