Why it works: Potato and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,456 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Baked 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
Wash and brush the potatoes thoroughly.
Bake and serve
Bake the potatoes in their skins at 400°F (200°C) for 45-60 minutes, turning them frequently.
If peeled, place them in a dish, add fat, and bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.
Serve immediately, covered with a folded napkin to absorb moisture.
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 + 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
- Starch provides the fluffy interior that forms when the potato's moisture turns to steam.
- Fat (butter or oil)
- Fat coats the surface of peeled potatoes, promoting browning and a crisp, golden exterior.
The step that matters
Turning the potatoes during baking. Turning them frequently helps the skin dry and heat evenly, so the potatoes cook through without one side drying out or staying pale.
“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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