Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Stuffed 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.
Bake the potatoes
Wash and bake the potatoes at 400°F (200°C) until done.
Cut off the tops and scoop out the soft part with a teaspoon.
Stuff and brown
Mash the scooped potato and mix with butter, salt, pepper, onion, parsley, celery, and chopped hard boiled eggs.
Put the mixture back into the potato shells.
Place the stuffed potatoes in the oven until they are nicely browned.
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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Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the edible shell and the bulk of the filling once scooped and mashed.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, making the mashed filling smooth and moist.
- Hard boiled eggs
- Add body and a firm, creamy texture to the mashed filling.
The step that matters
Scooping and refilling the potato shells. Scoop carefully so the shell walls stay intact; a thin, broken shell cannot hold the filling and may split or collapse in the oven.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, pepper, parsley, celery, egg):
- Carrotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Leekfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, pepper, parsley, celery, egg. 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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