Why it works: Potato and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,855 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
Boil the small kidney potatoes until tender.
Slice the boiled potatoes.
Finish and serve
Warm the sliced potatoes with 1–2 tablespoons of white sauce, chopped parsley, and a little lemon juice.
Alternatively, slice hot boiled potatoes and toss them with Maître d'Hôtel butter.
Squeeze a little lemon juice over the tossed potatoes and serve.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Potato + parsleytop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,036 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Potato + buttertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,445 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + lemontop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,229 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Parsley + buttertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together28,543 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
- Small kidney potatoes
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming soft and tender when boiled.
- White sauce
- Adds moisture and a creamy coating that clings to the potato slices.
- Maître d'hôtel butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying the parsley flavour over the hot potatoes.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the buttery, starchy flavour of the potatoes.
The step that matters
Warming or tossing the sliced potatoes while they are still hot. Hot potato slices absorb the white sauce or melting butter evenly, while cooled slices stay dry and the butter sits on the surface instead of coating them.
“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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