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Potato Salad

A salad of boiled potatoes with onion, celery, cayenne, egg yolks, sugar, flour, mustard, vinegar, cream, and olive oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Potato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Boil the potatoes in salted water until done, then slice them.

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, mix the hard boiled egg yolk, raw egg yolk, sugar, flour, dry mustard, salt, and pepper.

  2. Beat the mixture smooth, then add the vinegar and cook in a double boiler until thickened.

  3. Once cool, stir in the cream and olive oil.

Assemble the salad

  1. Add the sliced onion, chopped celery, and cayenne pepper.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 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 the dressing once sliced and cooked.
Egg yolks
Emulsify and thicken the dressing as they set with gentle heat.
Flour
Thickens the cooked dressing so it clings to the potatoes.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the dressing and balances the richness.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture to the dressing.
Olive oil
Adds fat and body to the dressing for a silkier mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Cooking the dressing in a double boiler. Egg yolks thicken gently and can scramble if overheated, so cook slowly over simmering water and stir constantly until the custard-like dressing coats a spoon.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, celery, pepper, egg, sugar, flour, mustard):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, celery, pepper, egg, sugar, flour, mustard. 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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