Why it works: Potato and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 424 recipes mention both. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: peanut (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Cook the vegetables
Place the russet potatoes into a large saucepan, and cover with salted water.
Bring to a boil, turn the heat down, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the sweet potato, and cook about 15 minutes more, or until both potatoes are tender.
Add corn kernels to the potatoes and cook another 30 seconds.
Drain in a colander.
Fill the saucepan with cold water, and drop vegetables into water.
Cool for 5 minutes, and drain again.
Make the dressing
In a large serving bowl, whisk together mustard, lime juice, cilantro, and garlic.
Slowly whisk in oil.
Mix in salt and black pepper.
Assemble and serve
Cut cooled potatoes into 1 inch cubes, and add to dressing along with cucumber, and red onion.
Toss well.
Serve at room temperature or chilled.
Add the peanuts just before serving.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Potato + limetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together424 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Lime + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,491 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Potato + corntop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together938 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Potato + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,512 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Sweet potato + limetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together177 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Russet potato
- Starchy body that holds its shape after cooking and gives the salad its substance.
- Sweet potato
- Adds sweetness and a softer, creamier texture to the salad.
- Canola oil
- Fat that carries flavour and gives the dressing a smooth, rich body.
- Lime juice
- Acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the sweet potatoes.
- Dijon-style mustard
- Emulsifier that helps the oil and lime juice bind into a stable dressing.
- Corn
- Adds pops of sweetness and a crisp bite against the softer potatoes.
The step that matters
Slowly whisk in oil. Adding oil slowly lets the mustard emulsify it into the lime juice. Pouring too fast can leave the dressing separated and greasy instead of smooth and cohesive.
Flavor stand-ins for the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, sweet potato, corn, lime, garlic, canola oil, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Broccolibetter flavor fit
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, sweet potato, corn, lime, garlic, canola oil, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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