Name: Grilled-Potato Salad
Ingredients: 2 lb. red or white new potatoes; Vegetable oil for brushing; 5 lean bacon slices; 1/4 cup olive oil; 1/4 cup white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar; 2 tsp. Dijon mustard; 2 Tbs. chopped dill pickle; Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste; 1 cup chopped red bell pepper; 1 small red onion, thinly sliced; 1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)

Why it works: Dill and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 669 recipes. Both carry p-mentha-1,3,8-triene, which smells camphor, herbal. The science ↓

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.

Dill + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together669 recipes

Shared aroma: p-mentha-1,3,8-triene (camphor, herbal).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Mustard + dilltop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together560 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + dilltop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together423 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, olive, white wine, mustard, dill, pepper, onion):

Thymefits better
Garlicfits about as well
Parsleythe original
Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, olive, white wine, mustard, dill, pepper, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Red Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Grilled-Potato Salad