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 ↓
New Potatoes in Bxttter
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Rub off the skins and wash the potatoes well, then wipe them dry.
Stew
In a well-tinned stewpan, combine the potatoes and butter.
Simmer over a gentle fire for about 30 minutes, shaking or tossing occasionally.
Add salt when they begin to stew.
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.
-
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
- New potatoes
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender as they simmer.
- Butter
- Provides fat and moisture, coating the potatoes and helping them cook gently without drying.
The step that matters
Simmer gently and shake occasionally. A gentle heat cooks the potatoes through without breaking their skins or scorching the butter on the pan base. Occasional shaking redistributes the butter and keeps the potatoes coated and evenly cooked.
“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.
You might also like
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Potato Rolls78 recipes
Potato Chips53 recipes
Sweet Potato Croquettes53 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.