Name: Lyonnaise Potatoes
Ingredients: 2 ounces butter; 2 tablespoons chopped onion; 1 quart cold boiled potatoes, peeled and sliced; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste

Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lyonnaise Potatoes

Ingredients

2 ounces butter
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 quart cold boiled potatoes, peeled and sliced
pepper to taste
coarse sea salt to taste

Directions

Melt the butter in a frying pan.
Add the chopped onion and fry until slightly colored.
Add 1 tablespoon of butter and the sliced potatoes.
Sprinkle with pepper and salt, then stir gently until thoroughly heated.

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.

Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter: Adds richness and fat, helping the potatoes brown lightly and carrying flavor through the pan.
Onion: Softens and browns in the fat, adding sweetness and savory depth to the potatoes.
Potatoes: Form the body of the dish; cooked slices take on color and a tender texture when heated in fat.