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Potato Salad

A layered potato salad with almonds or walnuts, onion, custard-like dressing, and cucumber garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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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

  1. Slice the boiled potatoes very thin.

  2. Prepare the blanched almonds or shelled walnuts.

  3. Finely slice or grate the onion.

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, mix the beaten eggs, mustard, pepper, vinegar, sugar, and salt.

  2. Stir in hot water until the mixture thickens to the consistency of custard.

  3. Add rich cream to the mixture.

Assemble and serve

  1. In a serving dish, layer the potatoes, sprinkle with onion, add dressing, then more potatoes, and walnuts, repeating until the dish is full.

  2. Garnish with cucumber and pickles or nuts.

  3. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

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

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

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

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

  3. Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

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

  4. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Almond + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together246 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 give it its body.
Eggs
Thicken the dressing as they cook gently in the hot water, giving a custard-like texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the dressing and balances its richness.
Almonds or walnuts
Add crunch and a nutty flavour that contrasts with the soft potatoes.
Mustard
Adds sharp flavour and helps emulsify the dressing.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, softening the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Stir in hot water until the mixture thickens. The beaten eggs must thicken gently into a custard. If the water is too hot or added too fast, the eggs can scramble, leaving lumps instead of a smooth, pourable dressing. Add the water gradually while stirring constantly.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Sesamefits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, onion, egg, mustard, pepper, vinegar, sugar. 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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