Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Potato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Wash and boil the potatoes until soft but not too soft.
Cool the potatoes, then peel and cut them into slices or dice.
Make the dressing
In a saucepan, bring the vinegar to a boil.
In a bowl, beat the eggs and stir in the sour cream slowly.
Add the egg and cream mixture to the boiling vinegar and stir until it comes to a boil.
Assemble and serve
Place the potatoes in a dish and slice the onion over the top.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, then pour the vinegar mixture over the potatoes and mix well.
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 + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the bulk of the salad and hold their shape when cut and dressed.
- Eggs
- Thicken the dressing as they cook gently in the hot vinegar mixture.
- Sour cream
- Adds creaminess and richness that softens the sharpness of the vinegar.
- White vinegar
- Provides acidity that flavours the salad and balances the richness of the dairy and eggs.
- Onion
- Adds sharp, aromatic flavour that cuts through the creamy dressing.
The step that matters
Stirring the egg and cream mixture into the boiling vinegar. Adding cold egg and cream to hot vinegar can curdle or scramble the eggs. Stirring steadily while bringing the mixture back to a boil lets the egg proteins thicken the dressing smoothly.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, cream, vinegar, egg, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, cream, vinegar, egg, pepper. 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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