Name: American Potato Salad with Hard-boiled Eggs and Sweet Pickles
Ingredients: 2 lbs red potatoes, scrubbed (about 6 medium or 18 small); 1/4 cup red wine vinegar; salt & fresh ground pepper; 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into 1 to 2 inch dice; 1 stalk celery, minced (about 1/2 cup); 2 tablespoons minced red onions; 1/4 cup sweet gherkins, minced; 1/2 cup mayonnaise; 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard; 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

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 ↓

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.

Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

Red potatoes: Provide the main body of the salad, holding their shape when cooked and cubed.
Red wine vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the salad and seasons the warm potatoes.
Hard-boiled eggs: Add richness and a soft, creamy texture to the salad.
Mayonnaise: Adds fat and moisture, binding the salad into a creamy dressing.
Dijon mustard: Adds sharp flavour and helps emulsify the mayonnaise dressing.

The step that matters

Cut and dress the potatoes while warm. Warm potatoes absorb vinegar and seasoning readily, while cold ones stay bland. Rinsing the knife removes surface starch that would make the cubes gummy.

Swap the onion

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

Horseradishfits better
Capsicumfits better
Broccolifits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, red wine, vinegar, pepper, egg, celery, 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
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

American Potato Salad with Hard-boiled Eggs and Sweet Pickles