Why it works: Potato and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,355 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Potato Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Form cold mashed potatoes into flat cakes.
Coat each cake with flour.
Fry in lard or sweet dripping until light brown on both sides.
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 + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold mashed potatoes
- Form the base of the cakes, giving them their body and soft interior.
- Flour
- Coats the cakes so they brown evenly and develop a light crisp surface when fried.
- Lard or good sweet dripping
- Fat for frying that conducts heat and promotes browning and a golden crust.
The step that matters
Frying until light brown on both sides. Cakes need enough heat and fat to brown and crisp the flour coating without burning. Cooking too hot can scorch the outside before the interior is heated through, while too cool a pan lets the cakes soak up fat and turn greasy.
“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.
More potato cakes recipes
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.