Name: Kohl Cannon, or Kale Cannon
Ingredients: equal parts smoothly mashed potatoes; young sprouts or greens (boiled until tender and chopped if needed); pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; 1 tablespoon butter; 1-2 tablespoons cream or milk; 1 raw onion

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Kohl Cannon, or Kale Cannon

Ingredients

equal parts smoothly mashed potatoes
young sprouts or greens (boiled until tender and chopped if needed)
pepper to taste
coarse sea salt to taste
1 tablespoon butter
1-2 tablespoons cream or milk
1 raw onion

Directions

Prepare

Combine mashed potatoes and boiled greens in a bowl.
Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, butter, and cream or milk.
Place raw onion in the center of the mixture.

Heat and serve

Heat the mixture over a clear fire until very hot and dry enough to mold.
Remove onion before serving.

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 + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

Mashed potatoes: Forms the bulk of the dish and gives it a soft, starchy body.
Cream or milk: Adds moisture and softness to the mashed potato mixture.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Heating until very hot and dry enough to mold. The mixture must be heated long enough to drive off excess moisture so it holds its shape when molded. Too little heat leaves it wet and loose; the raw onion placed in the center should be removed before serving, as the record directs.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pepper, butter, cream):

Onionthe original
Spinachfits about as well
Chivefits about as well
Capsicumfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pepper, butter, cream. 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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Kohl Cannon, or Kale Cannon