Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Peel the potatoes and soak them in cold water for 30 minutes.
Steam the potatoes over boiling water until tender.
Mash and season
Mash the potatoes in a warm bowl using a potato masher.
Season with coarse sea salt and add a generous piece of butter.
Mix in 1 cup of rich milk until well combined.
Serve or bake
Transfer to a deep dish and smooth the top.
Optionally, place a little butter on top and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden brown.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 dish, and their starch gives the mash its body once cooked and mashed.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel, and browns on top if baked.
- Rich milk
- Adds moisture and creaminess, loosening the mash to a smooth texture.
The step that matters
Mash while the potatoes are still warm. Warm potatoes break down and blend smoothly with butter and milk, while cold starch turns gluey and stiff when mashed.
“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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