Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Potato Pudding
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 the potatoes
Peel, boil, and mash the potatoes.
Mix the butter with the hot mashed potatoes.
Once cool, add the flour.
Make the batter
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together, then add to the potato mixture.
Add the egg whites, sour milk, and baking soda, and mix well.
Bake and serve
Pour into a buttered pan and bake at 350°F (175°C).
Serve hot with wine sauce or another liquid sauce.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Potatoes
- Provide the bulk and moist, starchy body of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness to the crumb.
- Flour
- Adds structure so the pudding holds its shape when baked.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that helps the pudding rise.
The step that matters
Add the flour only once the potatoes have cooled. Flour mixed into very hot mashed potato can turn gummy and dense, because heat speeds starch gelatinization and makes the mixture sticky. Letting it cool first keeps the texture light and even.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, flour, milk):
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Arrowrootfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, flour, milk. 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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