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Old-fashioned Potato Salad

A chilled salad of boiled potatoes, onion, celery, radishes, pickles, eggs, mayonnaise, parsley, mustard, salt, pepper, and garlic salt.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Old-fashioned Potato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the potatoes

  1. Place potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Cook until tender.

  2. Drain and cool the potatoes; cut into cubes and place in a bowl with the next five ingredients, tossing gently.

Dress and chill

  1. Combine mayonnaise with the next five ingredients and stir well. Pour over the potato mixture.

  2. Toss to coat. Cover and chill.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

303Calories
13 gProtein
6 gFat
51 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Dill5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried4
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Relishnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Dill + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together669 recipes

    Shared aroma: p-mentha-1,3,8-triene (camphor, herbal).

  2. Radish + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together297 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Dill + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together560 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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the salad and hold their shape when cubed and tossed.
Hard-cooked eggs
Mashed into the dressing to add richness and body.
Mayonnaise
Provides fat and moisture that bind the salad and make it creamy.
Mustard
Adds a sharp, tangy flavor that balances the richness of the mayonnaise.

Swap the dill

The recipe marks dill as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, onion, celery, radish, egg, parsley, mustard):

  1. Capersfits about as well
  2. Dillthe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, onion, celery, radish, egg, parsley, 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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