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Dessert

A Rich Potato Pudding

A baked pudding made from mashed potatoes, butter, sugar, lemon rind, eggs, brandy, and candied peel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

A Rich Potato Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Prepare the potatoes as for mashed potatoes and pass them through a fine sieve.

  2. Add the ingredients in the order given and beat well together for ten minutes.

Bake

  1. Butter a mold thickly and ornament with thin slices of candied peel.

  2. Pour in the pudding mixture and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for forty minutes.

  3. Pour a little clarified butter over the top.

  4. Sift plenty of white sugar over it.

  5. Serve with or without pudding sauces.

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 + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  5. Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Provides the bulk and soft, moist body of the pudding.
Eggs
Set during baking to give the pudding structure, and whites beaten separately add lightness.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing to a tender texture and flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the top brown in the oven.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, producing a softer, more tender custard-like crumb.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor to the pudding.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites separately. The yolks and whites are beaten separately, so the whites must be whipped to soft peaks and folded in gently. Deflating them removes the air that gives the pudding its light rise.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, lemon, cream, egg, brandy):

  1. Shallotfits about as well
  2. Arrowrootfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, lemon, cream, egg, brandy. 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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Sweet 116Irish 14Brandy 9Baked 7Cottage 6Lemon 5 See all 236 →

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