Why it works: Potato and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,611 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Potato and Cheese Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the pudding
In a bowl, mix the mashed potatoes, grated cheese, suet, and milk together.
If the mixture is not the proper consistency, add a little water.
Bake
Transfer the mixture to an earthen pan and bake until set.
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 + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Potato + cheesetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together959 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mashed potatoes
- Form the bulk of the pudding and give it a soft, tender body.
- Suet
- Adds fat that enriches the texture and keeps the pudding moist.
- Grated cheese
- Contributes savoriness and helps the mixture set with flavor.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the mixture so it bakes evenly.
The step that matters
Adjusting the consistency with water. If the mixture is too stiff it will bake dense and dry, and if too loose it may not set. Add water only a little at a time so the texture stays soft yet firm enough to hold its shape when baked.
“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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