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Dessert

Potato Apples

A fried potato apple shaped dumpling made with potatoes, butter, cheese, milk, eggs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 Apples

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Mix all ingredients together and beat thoroughly.

  2. Let the mixture cool.

Shape and coat

  1. Shape the mixture into small apple shapes, then roll in breadcrumbs, dip in egg, and roll in breadcrumbs again.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in deep fat until golden brown. Drain, garnish, and serve.

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Riced potatoes
Form the bulk of the mixture, giving a soft, fluffy body that holds its shape.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, softening the mixture and improving its flavor.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture together and add richness to the shaped pieces.
Milk
Loosens the potato mixture, adding moisture for a smooth, workable texture.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and some browning in the mixture.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before shaping. A warm, soft mixture is sticky and hard to shape and coat. Cooling firms the potato and egg mixture so the pieces hold their form through breadcrumbing and frying.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, cheese, milk, egg):

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Thymefits less well
  4. Cinnamonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, cheese, milk, 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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