Name: Potato Cheese-Cakes
Ingredients: 6 ounces boiled potatoes; 4 ounces candied peel, finely cut; 4 ounces sugar; 4 ounces butter; 2 tablespoons cream; Flaky crust for lining patty-pans

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Potato Cheese-Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Pass the boiled potatoes through a sieve.
Mix the sieved potatoes with candied peel, sugar, butter, and cream until well blended.

Fill and bake

Line patty-pans with flaky crust.
Cut the crust evenly around the edges.
Fill the lined patty-pans with the potato mixture.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Potato + creamtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,481 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Boiled potatoes: Provide the starchy bulk that gives the filling its soft, moist body.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender, smooth texture in the filling.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown lightly in the oven.
Candied peel: Adds concentrated citrus-sweet flavour and chewy bits throughout the filling.
Cream: Adds moisture and richness, helping the mixture blend smoothly.