Why it works: Potato and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,052 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Potato-jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Pour boiling water over potato flour in a bowl.
Ensure the water is absolutely boiling for the jelly to form.
Stir until the mixture transforms into jelly.
Add sugar, nutmeg, and white wine to taste, if desired.
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 + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,052 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + white winetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together533 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the nutmeg
The recipe marks nutmeg as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, flour, sugar, white wine):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Thymefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, flour, sugar, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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