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White Potato Puree Border

A molded potato puree border baked until firm.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

White Potato Puree Border

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Wash and cook the potatoes by boiling, steaming, or baking until tender.

  2. Drain the potatoes and pass them through a fine sieve.

Make the puree

  1. In an earthenware pan, stir the puree with a wooden spoon.

  2. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then mix in the butter and egg yolks.

Mold and bake

  1. Grease a border mold with clarified butter and line it with bread crumbs.

  2. Fill the mold with the puree, pressing it down firmly.

  3. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 15 minutes.

  4. Turn out onto a hot dish and 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.

  1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the border, giving a soft, smooth structure once sieved and set by baking.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the puree a smoother mouthfeel and flavor.
Egg yolks
Enrich the puree and help it set into a firm, sliceable border when baked.

The step that matters

Pressing the puree into the mold. Firm pressing removes air pockets so the border holds its shape when turned out and does not crumble or collapse in the oven.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, nutmeg, butter, egg, bread):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, nutmeg, butter, egg, bread. 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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