Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Potato Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil potatoes until soft, then peel and pound them.
Make and cook the pudding
Mix the pounded potatoes with melted butter, sugar, almonds, rose water, beaten eggs, and grated nutmeg.
Boil the mixture in a cloth or buttered basin.
Serve
Serve with a sweet sauce made of wine, sugar, butter, and grated nutmeg.
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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Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,115 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,052 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together337 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,465 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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 pudding and give it a soft, starchy body.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set it as it cooks, giving structure.
- Melted butter
- Adds richness and moisture, keeping the pudding tender.
- Pounded loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the pudding brown and flavour evenly.
- Blanched sweet almonds
- Add body and a nutty flavour to the pudding.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture in a cloth or buttered basin. The mixture is held in a sealed cloth or basin while it cooks. If the cloth is loose or the basin is not buttered, water can seep in or the pudding can stick and break apart. Keeping it snug and greased helps it hold its shape.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, almond, rose, egg, nutmeg, sauce):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Spinachfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, almond, rose, egg, nutmeg, sauce. 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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