Name: Potato Souffle
Ingredients: 4 medium potatoes; 2 tablespoons butter; ⅓ cup milk; 4 eggs; salt to taste; pepper to taste

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 ↓

Potato Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Wash and scrub the potatoes in cold water.
Dry the potatoes with a cloth.
Bake the potatoes in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 30 to 45 minutes until soft.
Check doneness by inserting a fork; the potatoes should be soft inside.
Cut the baked potatoes in half lengthwise, keeping the skins intact.
Scoop out the insides carefully, avoiding damage to the skins.
Pass the potato insides through a wire sieve into a bowl.
In a saucepan, combine butter and milk, and heat until boiling.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in 3 ounces of the sifted potato until smooth.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Beat in the yolks of 3 eggs one at a time, mixing well.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).