Why it works: Potato and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,230 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Baked Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Boil and mash the potatoes.
Mix in the butter, sugar, eggs, lemon rind, and salt until smooth.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 40 to 45 minutes.
Let it cool before serving; it can be served like cake without sugar or preserves.
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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Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,230 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 pudding, giving it a soft, starchy body once mashed.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, contributing to a smooth, tender texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the mashed mixture and help it set into a firm, sliceable pudding when baked.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the pudding brown lightly in the oven.
The step that matters
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 40 to 45 minutes. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the pudding loose and wet in the centre, while overbaking can make it dry and rubbery.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, lemon):
- Asparagusfits better
- Leekfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, lemon. 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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