Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Baked Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Wash and peel the potatoes.
Place the potatoes in a dripping pan with some dripping.
Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little flour.
Bake and serve
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until nice and brown, turning occasionally for about 1 hour.
Serve on a napkin.
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 + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming soft and fluffy inside as they bake.
- Dripping
- Coats the potatoes and conducts heat, helping the skins brown and crisp in the oven.
- Flour
- Dusted over the potatoes, it helps the surface brown and form a light crust.
The step that matters
Turning the potatoes during baking. Turning them occasionally keeps the fat coating even, so every side browns evenly rather than one side scorching or staying pale.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, flour):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Okrafits better
- Spinachfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, 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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