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 the potatoes
Peel the potatoes and soak them in cold water for 30 minutes.
Steam the potatoes over boiling water until they are tender and mealy.
Mash the potatoes in an earthen basin or bright tin pan while keeping them warm on the stove.
Season the mashed potatoes with salt, add butter, and mix in the milk until well combined.
Brown and serve
Add butter on top and briefly place in a 400°F (200°C) oven until hot.
Bake in the oven until the top is a rich brown.
Score the top with steel bars for a golden brown finish.
Mold the potatoes, fry in hot lard until golden brown, and serve garnished with curled parsley.
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
- Provide starch that becomes light and fluffy when cooked and mashed, forming the body of the dish.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel, and helps the top brown in the oven.
- Rich milk
- Adds moisture and creaminess, loosening the mash into a smooth, spreadable texture.
The step that matters
Mashing while warm. Potato starch swells and releases gluten-free sticky starch when overworked, so mashing too vigorously or too long turns the potatoes gummy. Keep them warm and mix gently just until combined.
“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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