Name: Potatoes
Ingredients: potatoes; butter; beef dripping (optional); coarse sea salt

Why it works: Potato and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Potatoes

Ingredients

potatoes
butter
beef dripping (optional)
coarse sea salt

Directions

Boil the potatoes in as little water as possible without burning the saucepan.
Cover the saucepan and cook until the skin begins to crack.
Drain all the water and let the potatoes stand covered for 1-2 minutes.
Peel the potatoes and place them on a plate.
Pour melted butter over the potatoes.
For a crispy finish, place the peeled potatoes on a grill until browned.
Alternatively, cook them in a saucepan with beef dripping, shaking often to prevent burning.
Once browned and crisp, transfer to a plate and serve with butter on the side.

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.

Potato + beeftop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,052 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + beeftop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,847 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).