Name: Potato Rolls
Ingredients: 1 cup flour; 1 cup potatoes, riced; ½ cup lard; 1 cup milk; 2 eggs, well beaten; ¼ cup sugar (scant); 1 teaspoon salt; 1 cake Fleischmann's Compressed Yeast; 2 cups lukewarm water

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 Rolls

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the dough

Mix the lard, riced potatoes, sugar, and salt thoroughly.
Add the beaten eggs, then the milk, and finally the dissolved yeast.
Set the mixture aside to rise for 2 hours.
Add about 1 quart of flour to make a soft dough and let it rise again.

Shape and bake

Shape into rolls or a loaf, butter the top, and let it rise again.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + milktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,355 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Flour: Builds the gluten structure that holds the soft dough and rolls together.
Potatoes: Adds moisture and a tender, soft crumb to the rolls.
Lard: Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and keeps the rolls soft.
Eggs: Add richness and structure, helping the dough hold its shape.
Yeast: Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
Sugar: Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and golden browning in the oven.