Name: Yams Au Gratin
Ingredients: small Yams; butter; grated Parmesan cheese

Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Yams Au Gratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

small Yams
butter
grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Scrub the Yams and boil them with their skins on until cooked.
Peel and mash the Yams until smooth.
Spread a layer of mashed Yams in a baking dish.
Add bits of butter and grated Parmesan cheese on top.
Repeat layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with cheese and butter on top.
Brown under a hot broiler or in front of a clear fire.
Serve immediately.

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.

Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Yam + buttertop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together103 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Yam + parmesan cheesetop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).